On her thunderous new anthem “Hunger,” singer/songwriter A.O. Gerber wrestles with two opposing ideas: desire and restriction. The idea came to her during a particularly horrendous Los Angeles fire season and illustrated dramatically for her that both ideas were owed to a specific hunger. “I’ve spent so much of my life vacillating between these polarities, craving and negating,” Gerber said. “Both states of being are a hunger for something, and I like to think there’s a reality where pleasure and accountability to yourself and others can coexist.”
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Across the melodically tumultuous synths and percussion that swell on “Hunger,” the crystalline vocals of Gerber try to do just that. Piecing together how such hunger can be a prison — keeping whatever it is you think you need or want just out of reach. Be it trying to change yourself for another person or just being able to put your own happiness first without feeling guilty about it. Despite such frustrations “Hunger” is an elated listen that buoys you with its lilting instrumentals and Gerber’s sublime cries.
The music video for the song, directed by Vivian Wolfson, has a more whimsical take on the themes explored in “Hunger.” Filled with lush pastels and banquets-like arrangements of fruit and desserts, the video pictures Gerber being directed and fed by two pairs of colorfully gloved hands. Because of its lyrical density, Gerber wanted it to be light and asked only that at some point she wanted a cake to be shoved in her face. Wolfson — who graduated from high school only a month previous to being enlisted as director — obliged and Gerber at one point gets a mouthful of white cake frosting with what looks like a bunch of jellybeans shoved into her face.
“This song sort of wrote itself in the midst of a really devastating fire season in LA. I’d been thinking a lot about the opposing forces of desire and negation, all the different ways we both consume and restrict as individuals and as a culture. I’ve spent so much of my life vacillating between these polarities, making myself small physically and spiritually. I haven’t always had the ability to critique that impulse in myself but it felt good to do that here.”
Watch the video for A.O. Gerber’s new single “Hunger” below!
Meet Me at the Gloaming is out October 14 pre-order it here. A.O. Gerber will be playing The Airliner in Los Angeles on October 21. Visit A.O. Gerber’s website, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
A.O. Gerber tour:
Oct 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Airliner
Nov 3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
Nov 11 – Manchester, UK @ Gullivers
Nov 12 – Glasgow, UK @ The Great Western
Nov 13 – Newcastle, UK @ Cumberland Arms
Nov 15 – Bristol, UK @ Crofters Rights
Nov 16 – London, UK @ Folklore
