Gavin Turek is golden. Literally—she’s covered in gold body paint for her new video for the track “Illusions.” Filmed in Joshua Tree, she sits atop round boulders and drapes herself in red chiffon with the man of her dreams. It’s a stunning, simple visual of devotion accompanied with a soundtrack from a modern day disco chanteuse. This video is the formal introduction of her concept for Madame Gold, which she explains is “an otherworldly being and the embodiment of this new body of work and chapter in my life.” Her forthcoming album takes the name from the alter-ego, which will be “simultaneously bold and vulnerable, powerful yet soft, magical and honest.”
On “Illusions,” Turek’s vocals sweep and swagger around warped guitars and funky beats just as Diana Ross’ or Donna Summers’ did back in the ’70s at the heights of their careers. She details the single, saying it’s about “loving something or someone that brings you as much joy as pain, yet your commitment is unwavering due to your ability to maintain an illusion of the experience. To write about a romantic connection that is difficult yet intoxicatingly right came naturally. But the more I sit with it today, I can’t help but to see the song as a metaphor for my relationship with music.”
She continues, “I love making music but it has broken my heart many times. The work never has, but the industry, the career highs and lows, absolutely have. But like the words in this song, I continue to devote myself to it for better or for worse, even if people say I’m a fool for continuing. It’s a sentiment that all artists can relate to; Blind love for the thing that makes you feel alive.”
Watch the “Illusions” video, co-directed by Gavin with Nina Reyes-Rosenberg, below.
