Ora The Molecule

Shares New Video For “Beat Beat Beat” & New Remixes By Gillian Gilbert, Moon Boots, And OTON

DEBUT STUDIO ALBUM, HUMAN SAFARI, OUT NOW

Stream and purchase the “Beat Beat Beat” single and remixes here.

“…big, billowing electropop…every song is bursting with joy.” – BANDCAMP
“…sleek, icy, slightly strange dance-pop…” – CONSEQUENCE
“…off-kilter yet immediately engrossing electronic pop.” – MTV NEWS
“…a dozen cuts of icy, minimal dance music paired with observational lyricism.” – FLOOD

“…impossibly infectious…not like everybody else.” – BLACKBOOK

Ora The Molecule today unveils a new video for “Beat Beat Beat” taken from her debut album, Human Safari. Watch the video which was self-directed by Nora Schjelderup – the creative mastermind behind Ora The Molecule – here.

Reflecting on the video’s theme, Schjelderup says, “I shot and directed this video myself. It was just me and my brother Tirian while he was visiting me in Granada, Spain. He was into alchemy circles and karate at the time, so we made a video where he could be like the heroes he had read about. It was pretty great, we were both making art in a way. I was directing a music video in which he was the embodiment of the adult mind that is really still a child, trying to follow society’s ‘duties,’ while still being called back to the land of imagination and nature, with Tirian fighting demons and showing me tricks. The song is about the danger of pushing with too many questions, while still trying to live within society, and the moment one takes into consideration all that is going on. It is difficult to live a ‘normal’ life. Therefore it is a contradiction. The beast that is sleeping is the higher reason or consciousness within everyone, and if everyone were to live true to this one, we could not keep doing what we do in today’s consumer society on planet Earth.”

Alongside today’s video release is a new digital EP featuring remixes by Gillian Gilbert – the pioneering founding member of New Order who debuts the first reworking under her own name – a classic house piano-backed interpretation from Moon Boots, and a spacey, garage-leaning take by Belgium’s OTON.

Of Gillian Gilbert’s remix – which premiered via Brooklyn Vegan – Schjelderup remarks, “I cried the first time I heard this. I needed to pinch my arm to remind myself that I was not dreaming. I have trouble believing that this legend has touched my art! And she did such a good interpretation of it, she took the Sami-inspired native shouts and brought them to the surface. I think she made the track darker and more emotionally piercing. And it’s constantly changing; she made a storyline. I love it so much. It fits both in the club, and I could see it in a movie like Lord Of The Rings too!”

Regarding his remix, Moon Boots says, “It isn’t every day that I get asked to do a remix for a Scandinavian art-pop band, so when Nora (Ora the Molecule) approached me to do a remix I was on board. I like the cool and spooky atmospheres mixed with hummable melodies. And I like that it sounds a bit like she’s singing ‘Pete Pete Pete’ which is my actual name!”

Speaking about his approach to “Beat Beat Beat,” OTON says, “I was happy to have done this remix as an introduction to Mute and Ora the Molecule. It was a good exercise for me, and kind of a challenge to slow things down a bit and juxtapose my production to a slower bpm and a more pop-leaning song. I basically ended up leaning toward Lyn Collins-style breaks, with a garage/two-step feel alongside classic and Roland drum machine sounds, an unmissable Reese bassline matching the beat, and I couldn’t help spicing things up with trancy M1 voicing within the break. I hope you will like it!”

Stream and purchase Human Safari on orange crush transparent vinyl, CD, and digital platforms here.

MORE ABOUT ORA THE MOLECULE

Ora The Molecule is the musical moniker of Norwegian-born avant-pop artist Nora Schjelderup. For Schjelderup, life has always been about observation and finding one’s purpose in the community at large. She is the molecule personified: the smallest bit of matter that retains its own identity while being part of something greater. This keen sense of inspection and willingness to surrender to feelings of wide-eyed wonder guided Schjelderup from her childhood to the release of her debut album, Human Safari.

For the LP, Schjelderup adopted role of observer as she examined the world around her. “You could look at it like a bird walking around and feeling stupid for not understanding how everything works,” she theorizes. “You feel small. When cognition takes over, those feelings can come easily because it’s so much to take in for a tiny creature. It’s celebrating the spectacle.”

Human Safari consists of 12 songs alternating between joyous, beat-driven avant-pop and slick synthwave. “It’s for sure two poles,” Schjelderup explains. “The speaker is the storyteller and the instrumentals are nature or the way life goes. Sometimes you get scared, sometimes it opens up. It’s life. I wanted to make a landscape where the voice could guide you through and be a safe voice. So even when it’s a little bit darker, you’re still in the story and it continues.”

Throughout her life – and the album – Schjelderup espouses the concept of the extended chosen family and welcoming those who might otherwise feel uninvited. “It’s a sense of belonging, a sense of oneness that you don’t see in other parts of society,” she says. “Community is everything. It’s very important but it starts with the individual. If I can contribute to that, I want to do it.”

Human Safari Tracklisting

1. The Ball
2. Sugar
3. Creator
4. Die To Be A Butterfly
5. Helicopter
6. Shadow Twin
7. Beat Beat Beat
8. I Wanna Be Like You
9. Pocket Universe
10. You Need Air
11. Silence
12. Souldigging
    

Beat Beat Beat Tracklisting

1. Beat Beat Beat
2. Beat Beat Beat (Moon Boots Remix)
3. Beat Beat Beat (Gillian Gilbert Remix)
4. Beat Beat Beat (OTON Remix)

Stream and purchase Human Safari
Watch the video for “Creator”
Watch the video for “Die To Be A Butterfly”
Watch the video for “The Ball”
Watch the video for “Helicopter”
Watch the video for “Beat Beat Beat”
Listen to the “Creator” remixes
Listen to the “Die To Be A Butterfly” remixes
Listen to “The Ball” remixes
Listen to the “Helicopter” remixes
Listen to the “Beat Beat Beat” remixes

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