27-year-old musician Eyedress is very cool. Born in the Philippines, raised in the US, and now back in Manila, after a stint playing in a local jazz band, the multi-instrumentalist has found his own spaced out genre-mashing solo sound. With a synth-led EP already out on XL, his well-named 2017 album Manila Ice soundtracks his ever-evolving homelife well as the political situation in his hometown. Recorded in his home studio around the birth of his first child, Eyedress (DIY king) writes, sings, plays and raps the whole thing himself.
Good news for existing and potential new fans: today we’re happy to share with you the video for what we believe to be the highlight of Manila Ice. A love song disguised as a trippy nighttime adventure, Separation Anxiety is a documentation of Eyedess’s life on tour away from his family. London’s calling and boy does it look fun.
“I filmed everything during my tour in the UK this November,” Eyedress told i-D in an email. “We were staying with my friend Sonny who directed a music video of mine that should come out early next year. I asked him if I could borrow his camcorder so I could film during my tour and he agreed. I filmed a bit of it on his camera then eventually I bought a tape camera for a hundred quid off of gumtree from this sweet Jamaican man who met me while I was in line at the Supreme store!”
“The video is basically just me and my bandmate Julius smoking up and hanging out. One night at my gig at Omeara in London, I fell asleep in the green room and when I woke up, my friend King Krule was there along with his mate Rago who plays in his band. We also filmed some bits with my label mate MIKE and his homies. We played a gig together that night then afterwards saw my bud Mac Demarco in the crowd and we kicked it with him. The video kind of ends with us at the Mac Demarco concert in the Coronet.”