2forJoy is an artist we’ve fallen a little bit in love with. On “Michaela”, which we shared with you while back she sings with a bewitching, fragile remorse over sparse, brooding electronics. Now this haunting tale of loss has an equally captivating and powerful video to accompany it, all darkness and light, suffering and pain. We caught up with Ruth Ivo, aka 2forJoy, last week and asked her about the video, which you can watch below.
Filmed on location in a crypt under St. Thomas’s church in Holborn, London, the idea came about after Ruth and her friend and director Annick Wolfers independently went to the same Marissa Carnesky show in the Old Vic tunnels, and came away thinking the exact same thing. ”They had a tank with a girl performing acrobatically inside the water in this tunnel”, Ruth explained. ”Myself and Annick both went to see the show separately, but then a couple of days later we got in touch with the same idea”.
Filming “Michaela” in the Old Vic tunnels wasn’t possible but the crypt proved an equally stunning and atmospheric location, if one that presented a series of logistical challenges. ”We didn’t fully comprehend the logistics of getting a giant metal and steel safety glass tank down a very steep very narrow flight of stairs, with a crew of four, and then filling it with water, splashing around in it for half a day, getting all the water out, and getting the tank back up the stairs again”.
She laughs about it now, but the logistics weren’t the only way in which she suffered for her art as it was her who was doing the splashing around, which after filming in a blizzard for the video for “Choke” shows her dedication to the performance.”Yes that was another hypothermia shoot. I actually really enjoyed it when it was being a mermaid in a tank. But then but afterwards it wasn’t great”>
The track itself deals with addiction and loss, a true story from Ruth’s life that obviously affected her deeply. Putting her out there, sharing these emotions with the public is not something she is afraid of and the video, its narrative, was another element of that process. ”People can interpret the video however they want to”, she admits ”but to me it was all about the memories that you keep locked away in your mind. They stay there dormant until suddenly something triggers them and you find yourself face-to-face with the memory or whatever it is that you’re trying to bury. Then you have your face-off with it”.
As she says, subjectivity plays an important part in all forms of art, and how we interpret something is very much dependent on our own experiences. Ambiguous elements can give art a much more powerful resonance with the beholder and the ending of the “Michaela” video, it’s symbolism, is one that may appear obvious at first glance, but could actually be understood in a number of different ways. That’s just one of the many reasons it is such a beautiful video.
“Michaela” is available for free download in exchange for a tweet.
Our full interview with 2forJoy will published soon.
Read More: Listen: 2forJoy – “Michaela”
Stalk 2forJoy: Tumblr / Facebook / Twitter / SoundCloud
Alphabet Bands 
it really is a lovely video