“reCOLLECTION” by Zhao, Annabelle Maginnis, Def Sound and Tolliver is described by LA Record as “a song that flows between pop, R&B, hip-hop and electronica like water (and waves and whirpools) across rock.”
The video for reCOLLECTION (with cinematography by Kellen Malloy) was imagined much like the song itself: beginning with a family field trip to the westside of LA where Zhao would bridgethegapbetweencyborgandnatural. AnnabelleMaginnis,DefSoundandTolliver made the journey from South Central LA and East LA to Marina Del Rey, meeting with Zhao to brainstorm a video treatment that could encapsulate all the elements that “reCOLLECTION” embodies.
They landed on just that: elements. The three artists (Annabelle Maginnis, Tolliver, and Def Sound) each represent an earthly component, likening their verse to something innate and rudimental. The costumes are designed by 2017 Recipient of the Award for Artistic Excellence, Australian artist Erica Gray, whose work is deeply informed by the forms of nature. Each avatar is visualized by a primary color and a unique outdoor location - ranging from a fire-scarred hillside to the vast rocks of Joshua Tree. Zhao plays a cyborg octopus designed by Jess Joy. The tentacular visuals represent their multi-instrumentalist ways that blend analog and digital worlds. Throughout the song, the chorus transmutes - mirroring the characters’ evolution from the mundane to the uninhibited. The room is initially cast in white, the shapes boxy and controlled., As the song progresses, organic plant forms are introduced, and eventually come to overrun the space in a verdant display . In the song’s climax, , the characters join in a dance party, with choreography by Kianah Jay (TwoLips). In the end the group sings “I don’t wanna build a castle, on hollow pillars glass and fragile,” having built something much more sincere out of each other - something teeming with life.
lyrics
ANNABELLE MAGINNIS
erase my name, and burn it down
no recollection into the ground
erase my name, and burn it down
no recollection into the ground
show me something real
show me something I can hold on to
gotta catch a feel
gotta stretch this skin to something new
disconnection, no protection, not
gonna mention such unpleasant thoughts
all these questions, god I'm stressin', caught
wishin you were here to ask
I don't wanna build a castle
on hollow pillars glass and fragile
I don't wanna build a castle
on hollow pillars glass and fragile
TOLLIVER
you got a secret I could barely even see you
we tried to touch but it was just an apparition
an empty house full of doodoo and pissin'
foundation's peelin and clippin'
the neighbors come over
what they gon say
got a whole condo full of empty space
and I'm in space, gotta get free
jealous of my friends, man all of us could eat
chop chop, we could chow down
no blanks, it's all live rounds
turn the cameras on but it's a blank screen
change perception just to see what's in between things
ANNABELLE
I don't wanna build a castle
on hollow pillars glass and fragile
I don't wanna build a castle
on hollow pillars glass and fragile
DEF SOUND
Write to right my wrongs
Riiiight I believe in belief
Truth is the language I speak
I’m w/ sheesh
I got the link w/ the deets
Guilt I take that off
Noooo That no longer fit me
Begin w/ the endings
I’m high in the day time to balance the dark times
Heights reaching daylight
Found myself in loss
Call me Motumbo I block her
Getting my checks up no doctor
My drip is so water
I am too stylish for dockers
See myself in you
Feel like a Mirror out here
Lead w/ the spirit here
feeling no fear out here
been here w/ the year yea
I feel the shift with in
I think I innerstand
I feel like me again
I feel like (whoa)
We could build a castle
rather build a green house
Inside of really a really green house
You can let the light in
I can’t see out
Plant based god
You can take the meat out
This song
Is personal
Versatile
Vulnerable
Quotable
Idk
All I know
credits
released May 17, 2020
Produced by Kenny Zhao
Lyrics by Annabelle Maginnis, Tolliver, and Def Sound
Cover Art by Fanny Chu
Artists and friends across Virginia make up the collective 202; here, they work together to create folk-inflected R&B about love and loss. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 28, 2022
