The Band Explains: Roca. - TIMALASI

Tokyo-based outfit Roca. spoke to us about the creative process behind their entrancing music video and art pop single, ‘TIMALASI’.


Where was the video filmed?
The movie of ‘TIIMALASI’ was taken at Shibuya, Tokyo.
Shibuya's a city where lot of new cultures are born and creates a trend.
A lot of people gather in this small area.
You would not believe how crowded Shibuya is.
But that is the power which gives people possibilities.
You must hold tight or else, the whole city's going to swallow you up.
That's how energetic Shibuya is.

How does the video connect with the song?
First of all, we got some feedback from our director about the song.
When we hire someone to make a film, we don't explain about the song, we keep the ideas and the images secret.
What director feel or think about the song, the first impression, is what we think is the most important fact for making a film.
The lady in this video represents the "mind", the separated half from our body.
The lady having her youthful beauty in her look connects with other random pieces in the song.
Those would make you feel their breath right in front of you.

Do you have any behind the scenes stories you could share with us?

The day we took the film was raining cats and dogs but Shibuya was really crowded as usual.
I don't like walking through crowded streets while crashing each other's umbrellas.
Our life must have some connections or relations with others but in the streets, only we come across each others physically, bumping shoulders to shoulders.
Walking in the noisiness makes me feel my head hollow.
The gravity and the flow of people makes us nervous.
But holding tight on your self through the craziness and keep on walking, there's a way out.
Silence finally came to us.
There, we started taking the films.
We we'e about to lose consciousness.

Can you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
The director felt the ""time" from the song and thought it was the best theme for the song.
In this film, time is not expressed in "linear", the past, the presence, the future exists "parallel".
The beautiful young girl, the images from the great old films and the others, we mixed them and reconstructed the pieces parallel.
The images sometime are played backwards. That creates a weirdness in time.
Experience you earn from this "time" actually explains the theme of "TIIMALASI" in another way.
This emotion, strangeness is what "mind" is all about.

Is there a message the video is trying to convey?

"How would you act as a human in circumstances that makes you depressed.
Cautiousness and purity let you survive in this complexed society.
You are the only person who know's how to redeem your self.
The way you inhale and exhale, in many meanings, are the messages expressed in this video."

Interview feature by Karla Harris