With the opening strains of violin, the ethereal “Ashgrey Butterfly” begins its flight into the neo-classical strathosphere. Oboe and percussion are front and center, along with the crystal clear, crisp vocals of the song’s creator, Realma. With 4 different versions of the song available, the listener can easily grasp onto the one that fits their mood and preference, making this an extremely adaptable composition.
“Because the original track is so complex, I ended up creating three variations for performance, each with a unique sonic flavour. There is a kind of ‘classical’ score I’ve written for oboe and string quartet, more delicate and exotic comparing to the playful acapella arrangement for six vocals. Finally, the band version is reminiscent of the indie style heard in teen flicks.” – REALMA
See which is your favorite in the videos below:
STREAM NOW:
Animated music video:
Band, studio session:
Live @ Botanical Garden:
Acapella video:
“It’s an interesting song, since it emanates a kind of Disney vibe, especially in my instrumentation and singing style, yet there is also a bit of that teen-witchy 90s Charmed aura. Some might even recognize the single’s grandiose touches as a nod to Enya. Fundamentally though, the lyrics depict a very personal, endlessly uncertain struggle on how to find one’s place when always feeling out of place. Perhaps the metaphorical juxtaposition between the ashen butterfly and colour-obsessed bees found here is somewhat Dickinson-esque. In the sense that the poet utilized similar nature motifs with tones of melancholy in her ever-questioning poetic space of solitude.” – REALMA.
Otherworldly. Transformative. Postmodern. Meet Realma – a sorceress at the heart of a songwriter.
Realma is an intimate musical alter-ego of an independent Serbian/Chinese polymodal artist. Her music has been featured in Rolling Stone India, Calvert Journal, Music Crowns, Zile si Nopti, Vreme and numerous other media outlets across the world, as well as Femikseta 9 and 10 – yearly compilations of original music by Serbian female artists.
While her eye-catching live session videos feature notable locations, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Felix Romuliana and Botanical Garden “Jevremovac”, Realma’s animated music videos, in collaboration with the award-winning animator and artist Mihajlo Dragaš, have been a part of multiple international film festivals, including Lift-Off Global Sessions, Flipbook Film Festival and Animest. Most recently, her performance at Femix Fest has been described by Headliner.rs as “Eclectic, distinct and multidisciplinary” and her single has entered Top 3 semifinals in the MArte Live European competition.
By finding unlikely intersections that border the traditional and the experimental, the mystical and the quotidian, Realma is foremost a neo-symbolist at her core. Using otherworldly sonorities and narratives to confront the everyday in all its light and dark hues, the artist wields the medium of songwriting as a transformative force of reverie and escape. Like disparate realms reflected in the crystals of a sorceress, her songs manifest divergent themes through influences of different musical genres. Fused together by the omnipresent witchy quality, Realma’s music is both atavistic and postmodern, gloomy and empowering, filmic and life-like. Within such a multi-genre brew, each song and its animated accompaniment represent a distinct adventure in her unique audiovisual universe.
Based upon Realma’s art songs, Realmaverse is her multi-genre audiovisual universe infused with engaging characters and their gripping stories. Realma and her team are currently working on the exciting possibilities of shaping this musical universe into a powerful franchise, with plans to extend the storyworlds into the comic, tabletop RPG and video game mediums.
• Official website: https://www.realmaverse.com/
• Follow Realma on social media: Instagram / Facebook / Twitter