LEMAT

Please tell us about yourself, what you do and how would you describe yourself to someone who can not see you? 

I’m a song-writer and performer. I call myself and the band LEMAT. It has been my main artistic outlet since 2015.

I live my own world through music and art; it leads to everything else in my life. 

I’m from Mexico and I am inspired by surrealist aesthetics, rock’n’roll culture, psychedelia, cinematography, folk music and all sorts of strange, profound pop history.

I sing, play bass, guitar and piano. I’ve toured a lot. I like style and conversation. I collaborate with many artists, bands and records. I work making things happen in different cities by connecting people, co-producing concerts, festivals, tours and good times.

Through the game-changing pandemic, I enjoy working in audiovisual production, specially video editing. I’ve recently arrived to the age of 34. My actual name is Anton. I’m based in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

How did the three of you meet, is there a distinct memory, image, smell, or situation you connect with coming across each other’s work or meeting in person?

I first met Rodrigo at his short-film exhibition in Guadalajara earlier this year. He was presenting a piece called “The Revolution Will Be On Netflix”, and before the video was played, he stood in front of us to speak about his process as a film-maker.

I knew he was a true artist then, even before I saw his work. I liked the piece a lot, so I talked to him after the screening. I told him about a video project I wanted to make and he picked up the vibe I think, so we met a few days after and connected well with each other. We developed a plan to make a big production video for a song yet-to-be-released called “Become Whole”.

The next time we met, he introduced me to Hanna, to have her as art director and possibly actress for that project.

I connected with her on a more fairy-like level where we can encourage surrealism with one another at any time, and the three of us cultivated a great trust together because I feel we understand what we are all aiming for.

Then the pandemic came and they were looking for a place outside the city for quarantine, so they stayed close to me at my family’s AirBnB in Ajijic for a couple months.

This is how we ended up sort of living together making a lot of art to keep our sanity, collaborating in videos, performance and hang outs. We couldn’t shoot the video we originally meant to make because all the locations were closed during that time (so we decided to make it in 2021), but we ended up making “Glow” as our first serious art piece together.

With nothing much other than my song, some aesthetic ideas, Rodrigo’s cameras, vision and direction, Hanna’s hand-crafted dress which she made through those days and her performance.

Through the second half of our quarantine, Hanna and Rodrigo moved to a cabin in Cofradía de Suchitlan, Colima (right by that volcano you see in the video); I tagged along and lived with them for about a month there and had been coming back to gather with them and work in more projects every month or so ever since. 

What makes this project and collaboration in your eyes special, what is it you personally want to transport or achieve with it besides sharing your work and vision with the world? 

Making the video was a subconscious act of resistance against madness. Those days we were quite drained from being in lock down for too long and we were nearly losing ground.

Going out to film in the lake at dawn that first day, became sort of a manifesto.

We never had a script or story to be told in the video. It wanted to go out there and make scenes in the morning light before the police would come and kick us out. Being present became the core beauty of the video.

A portrait of presence; of feminine energy in contact with nature. A subtle awakening to real life. It felt genuine to go by instinct and let images flow.

The purpose of the video must have been to express the calm and elegance of the song with whispering cadences, but it communicates to me how simply being is powerful enough. It shows someone truly opening her senses to that notion of realness, arriving places without traveling, without doing.

Your favorite moment during the videoshoot?

I cherish many memories from filming it, but there was something special to me on the first day of shooting. I remember looking into my phone for something, then I looked up and saw Hanna entering the water (something I didn’t expect at all).

That moment humbled me. It was real and the sun was casting intense colors.

Everything looked like a dream but I felt alive and part of it.

I also felt thankful for them (Rodrigo and Hanna) being there, doing that. I may have got a similar awakening feeling weeks later, on the last day of shooting when I suddenly saw the fog dissipating to reveal there was a bloody giant volcano next to us (which I didn’t realize how close we were to it at the time).

That was real, too, but that was the earth and lava: an amazed but frightened feeling. The water scene was pure tenderness. 

Please tell us about your spiritual identity 

I believe in naturalness, dancing, experimentation, beauty and humor. Kindness and imagination. Practicing creativity.

What the world needs now is?

I think we need to let go of the world for a moment and take a break, because it’s driving everybody nuts these days. It doesn’t help to lose your shit over the world. Best is to focus on our immediate interactions and try a little tenderness.

Also, shifting from monetarism to a well structured resource-based economy might be a good shot for humanity.

I truly believe the world will never have profound, relevant changes as long as money holds value.

I know that’s a wild thought, but I still think it’s the only conversation worth having when it comes to what the world needs as a whole.