Exclusive Video Premiere: ‘Royal Parade,’ Greenpot Bluepot

ABOVE: NATALIE LEBRECHT. PHOTO COURTESY OF HOLLAND BROWN/ROSIE CASTELLUCCIO

Greenpot Bluepot, the iconoclastic solo project of celebrated New York artist Natalie LeBrecht, boasts intricate melodies and transcontinental influences that deceive her more minimalist pedigree. LeBrecht constructed a festive and eye-catching video to accompany the track “Royal Parade,” off of her forthcoming record.

LeBrecht is a hidden Grand Marshal of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, and the classic, hymn-like quality of her voice is betrayed by quick, rhapsodic percussion and an eye-catching display of New York’s most convincing water nymphs. LeBrecht pieced together tableaux of the beguiling procession herself, skillfully denying a Nathan’s Hot Dog stand the opportunity to detract from the enchanting display. LeBrecht eventually becomes an enthusiastic participant in the activities, dancing with a mirrored version of herself on the pristine beaches of Brooklyn’s most adored peninsula. 
 
“Royal Parade” feels exempt from gravity, an unequivocal celebration untethered by concerns beyond the final stop of the NRQ line. “To me, the ‘Royal Parade’ song evokes a butterfly hatching from a cocoon or the sun coming out after a hurricane . . . or a doctor informing a patient thought to be terminally ill that he is cured and will live,” LeBrecht says.  “I intended the song to be a playful celebration of life when I wrote it . . . like that feeling when the heavy weight on your shoulders is removed and you feel so light you can float, but don’t take the grace of the light for granted anymore.”
 
Greenpot Bluepot’s music has received a glowing endorsement from Devendra Banhart, who described her sound as “some intergalactic Nico, her songs seem to come down from some perfect nebula, unendingly blowing my mind.” If Royal Parade is any indication, an astronomical ascent far higher than the Coney Island Wonder Wheel is in Greenpot Bluepot’s future.

ASCEND AT THE DEAD END IS OUT APRIL 3. FOR MORE ON GREENPOT BLUEPOT, VISIT HER WEBSITE.