behind the promo photo with pet wife
We chug along on our journey to talk to many artists and creative people about taking promo photos for their musical projects...
Molly Mary O’Brien
....'Promo photos' might not be an accurate way to describe the images that self-described "electro-sulk" Brooklyn duo pet wife crafted for the release of their album foam set (released this past May)...maybe it's more like 'visual universe'?
foam set is a very special album! Despite not being 'ambient' 'instrumental' or other fill-in-the-blank categorization that encourages introspection, there's something quite meditative about the chill intricacy of the electronic production. Layered, julienned vocals; clean piano interacting with roughed-up synths; subtle percussion with just enough oomph to give the songs some scaffolding—every time I press play on foam set I end up lost in some reverie or another.
Jackie
Listening to the album kind of reminds me of when I'd spend long amounts of time at the toy store where my mom worked when I was a kid, specifically at the rack of tumbled gemstones. You know...tumbled gemstones? Obsidian, agate, jasper, rocks of that nature? Oh god I loved that shit, I could look at them for hours. I think of each song on foam set is a different kind of gem that you can roll around in your hand, hold up to the light, note its patterns and complexity, daydream about where it might have come from.
Aaaanyway, the pet wife promo photos / album visuals are absolutely incredible, there's this tension and tenderness in all of them that gives foam set an even more magical aura. They were shot by photographer Eliza Jouin—the full credits for the shoot will be linked in here as well—and for this interview, I got to ask Chase (one half of pet wife, along with Isobel) a bit more about how they came to be. Let's go...
[Molly Mary O'Brien] Had you worked with Eliza before? What was it like to do a shoot with them?
[Chase] foam set was our first time working with Eliza. They are an incredible collaborator—they bring so many ideas and talents to the table and they worked to understand visually and conceptually how to illustrate this important world and work for us.
As we approached releasing the album it was a natural progression through mutual visual synthesis. Eliza really appreciates our relationship and the journey that this series of songs represents.
Isobel and I felt comfortable with Eliza to pull a dynamite team together, help shape our vision, and be under their light in the studio. The shoot was an incredible—even transformative—experience for us and everyone who worked with us, and we feel beyond lucky to have come into their orbit as close collaborators and family.
Everything about the visuals—hair, makeup, nails, styling, etc.—is so amazing. How did you get linked up with the rest of the team for this shoot?
Eliza introduced us to some of their friends and collaborators. We had a few zoom calls, sent the album around, shared ideas, mood boards, meals, and began to understand the vision. We really let everyone bring their creativity to the table and trusted the process of opening up our story to these deeply passionate artists.
The team included:
Odera Nkem-Mmekam for general styling and custom nails
Saga Snow on makeup and prosthetics
xClea on fabricating knit costumes and structures
Addam Michel Alle Ama Mille Barabas on custom latex
and of course Eliza on lighting, composition, capturing, editing and retouching.
An absolute dream team that we will work with again.
I would love to hear about the general creative process behind the shoot—did you have any particular visual inspiration for it in advance? How did everything come together?
The vision has been revealing itself to us since we decided to go for it and make foam set. As a visual artist, part of what I bring is creative direction and a visual sense to the sounds Isobel produces, allowing the mood and lyrics to tell the story in a way that the visuals mirror and magnify.
foam set was, from the beginning, a clear opportunity to create a fully-fashioned concept album. We had been pouring these songs into being, circling these visuals and visions and had an understanding of the mood and feeling we wanted. We knew meaning could come through pairing the songs with a strong visual that spoke to the foam set mythology, we understood the symbols and elements that we needed to play with.
Having a visual language was not only important to represent the alchemical origin story, a lore of transformation through connection, but it helped us to finish the album, keep the edit tight, and forced a focus to the sound.
This was a labor of loss for love, and the images represent a fall from grace, a desperate place, but a decisive turn to beauty and possibility while in the deepest darkest void.
This is part of what made it so clear we had to work with Eliza—their sense of light in the dark, their ability to capture an otherworldly humanity, a beauty in the unholy, the damned, the dark, the grotesque. It was a perfect partnership, as what they strive to capture was so much what we wanted to represent.
This is all before we get to the part about how important it was for Isobel and myself to feel safe and seen and powerful. We felt strongly that being trans artists, we needed to be represented by another trans artist, by a team of trans artists.
How would you say the photo(s) relate/connect to the album itself?
The photos represent a pet wife origin story, through the struggles we have faced and the darkest places we have moved through, holding each other, by the grace of love survived, and maybe the scariest part—kept hope alive that this crushing time period would not just signify the end of a powerful endurance of evil and forced changes of self, but a potent breeding ground for growth and new life.
Do you have any tips for other artists for getting the promo photos of their dreams?
I mean…work with Eliza. period. Also follow your gut, find people that are excited about you, the work, and that share in values and vision both personally and aesthetically.
So much goes into being depicted, being perceived, it was really important to pet and I that we have a foundation of trust and common experience and community to build this series.
In the end, the shoot, the team, the liberation that came from completing the vision was a profound catharsis that allowed us to process and move on from this period. At the end of the day terrible things happen, there is so much injustice, intolerance, and hate, but we will not be silent, we will make something beautiful.
Thank you Chase and thank you pet wife! Listen to foam set please, you must.
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