Images Of Peter: Finding Peter Godwin, Part Two

Peter Godwin: To return to the heart of your question, I would have to say that there were a lot of visual influences on those early videos. You’re right, there was definitely some ironic but affectionate reference to advertising campaigns, especially for beauty and glamour. In that sense, they really point to the contemporary obsession, especially in perfume ads, with images suggesting sex, glamour, romance, desire, danger, and music. A lot of it grew from the music. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nuevo songs used in this context in the future; everyone keeps telling me this. . . of course, for years now, new music has been introduced to the wider public through advertising: take Moby, for example.

That Obscure Object Of Desire, 1977

But we were on the underground flip side of that in a way; the first, so-called “risqué” video for “Images Of Heaven,” was playfully dealing with the idea of the voyeuristic focus of male sexuality, which is one of the main themes of the song. The love-hate relationship men have with Buñuel’s “obscure object of desire.” How the visual illusion, the conspiracy with that illusion, runs through men’s sexuality. And still, it engenders not only desire, but also obsessive romantic yearning, too.

“One cheap illusion can still be divine. . . ” I pulled out and quoted that one line on the record sleeve, for that reason. . . it’s central to the song..

And of course women sense this in every molecule of their being, even if it never enters their head (unlikely!) and so it informs a lot of their dance with men. . .

Finally, I should say that the guy who was shot next door while we filmed “America In My Head” did survive to tell the tale. . . sometimes life mirrors art and vice versa. . . I heard it was a “crime de passion”. . .

Popshifter: Your new album with Nuevo (Sunset Rise) revisits many of the themes you discussed in previous albums (love, sexuality—all with a dark European mentality). Do you find that your feelings and inspirations change or stay the same as you mature? What surprised you about making this album?

Peter Godwin: In one way, I always feel that I’m making the same album: as if I’m trying again to get it right. I know painters who feel the same way. In another way, every album I’ve made has had new elements of collaboration, some new chemistries, with the magic and the mystery that derives from that.

Change one brushstroke of a butterfly’s wing and it’s not just a different butterfly—or a different garden—but a different planet, another universe.

Rather like in love affairs and relationships. You recognize and feel things that seem familiar—and there may be recurring themes—but because even one thing is different, it’s all different.

Every relationship is unique. So every album I’ve made is unique.

But I do feel my spirit DNA runs through Sunset Rise and connects in some way to its ancestor creations.

From “Criminal World” to “Skin” via “Emotional Disguise” and “The Art Of Love”. . . there is a journey there, where you may encounter similar sensations, familiar stories, underlying passions and obsessions that echo through. . .

Click here to read more from Peter Godwin on. . .

Music Video Influences
Maturing inspirations
Poetry and Collaboration
Artistic suffocation
Chemistry and Alchemy
Old souls
Catharsis
Changes
Transcending technology
Everything Is Possible

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