Uncharacteristically immune to the lure of Instagram selfies and filter-heavy posts, New York alt-pop artist elegant slims lets her music speak for herself. And while it says a lot of things, no messages are as potent as her decision to do away with press shots and highlight fellow up-and-coming artists instead. Remaining faceless but not voiceless, she releases powerful tracks accompanied by even more powerful artwork, created by different artists with different tastes and interpretations. Such a track is her latest dark pop effort, "Shake The Glass".
The first of 2019, "Shake The Glass" is moody, eerie, and anthemic in all the right places. Described as a "love song for vampires", its artwork was completed by AI art designer Mario Klingemann. When sharing her thoughts on the artwork, elegant slims discloses that "The visuals are an extension of the song's data and I found in Mario a perfect visual companion through his work at the interface of art and technology. I say this is 'a love song for vampires' because in it there is a nostalgia, a longing, a timelessness, a foreverness to it and we hear it now in this colder tech-heavy modern era with an uncertain future. I feel the same when I admire his body of work."
While elegant slims may lend her music as a muse to other artists, it also doubles as a muse to our heightened senses. Without a face to put to the voice, and a profound image etched in our minds, every synth, every drum note, and vocal inflection is amplified. "Shake The Glass" finds its rhythm somewhere in between the sharp strings and demanding percussions. It's a continuous give-and-take between the menacing production and heartening bridges, fully giving in to the ebb and flow of elegant slim's vocals. Elegantly haunting and thought-provoking, "Shake the Glass" is a statement of originality, authenticity, and most importantly- humanity.
