Soap&Skin – Italy

3rd January 2023 · 2010s, 2018, Music

Well this is just stunning; aurally and visually, it’s breathtakingly beautiful and emotionally powerful. It’s featured in two feature films, Sicilian Ghost Story and Corsage.

I was in the cinema yesterday, gathering up my coat and scarf and hat and getting ready to leave at the end of the film I had just seen (Corsage).

And then the first notes of this began to play over the closing credits and a post-credit montage, and I was transfixed.

Thank heavens for Shazam.

What first caught my ear was the sumptuous synth melody reminding me of Sucide in general and Dream Baby Dream in particular.

Then the counter-melody that comes in with the vocals which has undertones of Bob Marley singing Stir It Up.

And when the video, with its mysterious and compelling narrative, merges into a second song (This Is) Water, the images will take your breath away.

Soap&Skin is the stage name of Austrian musician Anja Plaschg, chosen presumably because Corsage was made by an Austrian film-maker, Marie Kreutzer.

She has had hit singles in her home country – Spiracle and Mr Gaunt Pt.1000 – and her debut album Lovetune For Vacuum, released when she was 18, reached the top five there.