Iamamiwhoami – Clump

40

Your head rises out of the pillow, surrounded by golden locks.
They fall around it lightly like flickering golden flames that awaken at the first breezes of early morning.
Your little teeth smile out from your thin lips, like the milky opals in the glowing bracelet of the moon Goddess.

smile

Clump1. – A thick grouping, as of trees or bushes; 2. – A clustered mass, a lump ; 3. – collection, considerable group. In biology, ‘clumping’ is a trait of plants and animals, describing a behavior in which individuals of a particular species group close to one another for beneficial purposes. Examples: coral reefs, ants working together, cells forming a body etc.

The fact that Clump has been released 10 days before the in concert on August 12th, at WOW, is a sign of clear communication from iam’s part. They have great plans with the telephone number on towhomitmayconcern.cc and they want to make it clear the concerned should call and leave a message. Also, judging by the lyrics, it is also a sign of warm invitation (Cannot wait until I see your smiling faces ) and… well… love.

It’s difficult to say exactly without the imagery a video would offer. However, with the possible meaning of the word ‘clump’ itself and the cover of the single, I can only assume this song is an invitation to be once again in harmony (in concert) on the 12th, at Goteborg. The bubble wrap has the aspect of a clumped formation of individuals, equal in intention and with the purpose of sustaining/supporting/protecting something. Fans supporting a performance. Clumps. People sharing the same interest (made of the same material – artistic wise) as iam.

I also assume that, if a video will appear this evening, we’ll also get some Alraune references as well. I have already spotted the dichotomy ice/cold versus fire which is rendered beautifully in the book, so I am really hoping.

While waiting for the Clump video to come, here are some approx. lyrics:

I never dreamed I’d need someone like you
All I want to fit is be the unity of you
But I like you
You see the overall of what we are
And see the sad sad sight of you from a fall

Why don’t you call?

Whatever made you into clump like you

The ice and cold that leaks out the cracks in you
Makes us as new
Whatever made you seem so very small
Like a tiny ant in life but large in thought

Who’s standing tall

Cannot wait until I get my hands on you
we can do the things we said we would
You never had a true friend like I
Someone to pick you up when you needed to
Beget it through
If my hands weren’t so very sharp
This broken glass that surrounds wherever we are

Wouldn’t do us part

paaaart

Whatever made you into clump like you
The fiery warmth that reeks out from most of you
Is burning through
Whatever made you seem so very small
Like a tiny ant in life but large in thought
Come stand up tall

Cannot wait until I get my hands on you
we can do the things we said we would
Cannot wait until I see your smiling faces
And our love will be misunderstood

And as the video is up, let’s see what it has to offer:

First of all, I’m so glad that we’re somehow back to the old times, with the concept re-exploring some of the old imagery we’ve encountered in the pre-vids and bounty videos. Action takes place, again, in two worlds: MO’s bedroom – supposedly subjective reality and the foggy meadow (as we’ve called the beautiful place portrayed in those eerie images) – objective reality.

Subjective reality presents MO (or is she?) on the toilet paper bed we’ve encountered in ; John. These images are very suggestive as they come to represent the idea of viewer – artist interaction. Because, hidden under the act of close sexual act, stands the impression the viewer is part of it. The gross plan and the facial gestures of MO, as well as the lyrics, come to sustain this idea. She looks straight into our eyes, she lures us in with her look, she basically makes us imitate her moves by sliding up and down constantly, keeping pace with the beat of Clump and here we are, we’re getting to the point in which, along with her, we’re being introduced into the story. We close our eyes and, along with her, we go far away.

I’m going to be straight forward and say that, again, maybe we should stay away from the vulgarity of the sexual act and just take the symbolism behind it. As in, only by experiencing the true levels of the sexual act is one able to reach high levels of pleasure, imagination, etc and only by impregnation can reproduction take place. Sexuality is a big part of the Alraune myth and it is connected to fertility and to birth and to offspring.

The objective reality – what’s going on in her mind during up and down, up and down – draws us back to familiar settings. First I thought we were going to go back to T, with the tall grass, then to N, when she starts walking through the grass. Everything begins with her standing on her back on the ground and it’s through her eyes that we see the surroundings. Those images are simply beautiful and it is like a dream we’re into.

Actually, maybe we are. A projection of the future.  Of a child being alone, lost, trying to find his way through the tall grass. Of a woman looking for something in the grass, walking slowly, for fear she might step on that something, for fear she might scare it. Of an emotional encounter. Of limited, soft touch. Of love and caressing. Of loss. Of despair. Of letting go.

The child in Clump is a small version of MO during in concert during the dance scene. If so, the feminine character touching the child’s head cannot be MO, but her mother. I’m going directly into Ewers’ Alraune and say that the woman is Alma Raune, and the child is Alraune, her daughter, a lump of her mother’s cellsclump. It’s somewhat difficult to explain, but I am sure many have read the book by now and maybe understand.

In the story, Alma is the prostitute used by the professor to give birth to Alraune. The first scenes portraying Alma in the book are presenting her as:

dancing, throwing her hips around, bending forward and backward, pressing her body against her partner in constant contact. It was shameless, vulgar and brutally sensual. (p. 49)

Long story short, Alma is cheated into accepting the prof’s offer by being sold a fairytale. She’s supposedly having the child of a king. She’s being promised her child would be a prince and would have everything she didn’t have. Here are suggestive snippets:

‘Naturally the prince’s child, your child, must remain hidden after it comes into this world. He must remain hidden until he is fully-grown to protect him from the persecution and intrigue of his evil family–Naturally he would be a prince, just like his father.’

‘My child would be a prince?’

‘Yes, of course, but you will not be permitted to force yourself on him and compromise everything’

[...] That did it. Fat tears ran down her cheeks. She was already in her role, feeling the grief and sorrow of having to give up her beloved child. She was a prostitute, but her child would be a prince! She couldn’t be in his life. She would have to remain quiet, suffer and endure everything–for her child. It would never know who its mother was. [...]

“I promise you that I will never press myself on him. He will never hear me or see me, but–but–”

“What is it girl?” he asked softly.

She grabbed his arm, fell onto her knees in front of him and buried her head in his lap.

“Only once–only once!” she cried. “Can’t I see him just one time? From a distance– perhaps out of a window?”

Again, this is very difficult to explain, without many of you not knowing the story in detail. But I do see the grief she’s feeling in Clump and I explain her running away from this child in this manner. And the fact that she does not embrace the child, but simply touches the air around her head and then her hair and then she disappears. She dreams of this, she hopes all of these will happen. The encounter, the touch, and her keeping her promise to stay away. However, it won’t happen. In the story, she dies at birth.

Another possibility would be that both the woman and the child are Alraune/MO. And, just like in the case of Y, when she faces the little boy (or so we think), this is the moment in which Alraune finds out about her origins, how she was born, how her mother and her father died and so on. Ewers describes the moment as being very disturbing for MO (think of ‘Like Hell’ during in concert and how she felt during that sequence).

Many say that the child is us, the fans, the viewers. If we want, I don’t see why that wouldn’t be possible. Those lyrics can easily refer to us and the forthcoming concert. It’s the first thing that crossed our minds when the track appeared on iTunes and we didn’t have the video. And iamamiwhoami has always been about communicating on different levels. I am sure they are communicating with us. Videos and lyrics is the only way to do it. Of course our hearts melt when she caresses the child and looks into our eyes so softly singing Cannot wait until I see your smiling faces/ And our love will be misunderstood. That is intimate talk. That’s her telling us we have a special connection not many understand. It’s great. This is how they speak to us. And it works. And that’s just it. That’s the way they know how to combine everything into outstanding new concepts.

I can explain the apparent simplicity of this video by the fact that it is meant to function as an introduction to the concert. I hope I am not going too far when I say those going to WOW are in for a special performance, something a la first in concert. That or we’re all in for another track and video in maximum one week. It’s also a link between ; john and whatever else is coming. An intermezzo, if you want.

I love the imagery in Clump a lot. I’m referring at the dream like images. They speak to me. They remind me of how EEH describes MO’s meadow in Alraune. Love the copper tones, they’re so… beautiful and peaceful. However, there’s also lots of gray and dark green which make me think of how a nightmare is portrayed. The texture of the vegetation plays an important role in rendering the idea of softness, surreal, eerie (the tops of those plants are very soft and move slowly in the wind, almost floating in fog) as well as the idea of coldness and humidity (dark, tall grass, impenetrable or difficult to make way trough and wet fog). We’re still on the realm of the dream, of the dual. Remember fog is the sign of another world.

Photobucket

Since it is somewhat clear that Clump is part of a bigger picture, and since it is clearly a continuation of ; john, I wonder if MO running away so suddenly is not connected with CU approaching. You know… because he was running, searching for something as well in ; john. This really makes me expect the next video like crazy.

I want you to pay attention to the last images in the video and at the sounds accompanying them. I see a sudden change in MO’s attitude.  She’s looking away and does not care anymore. Doesn’t make any effort. She’s on that bed only for a John to finish what he has to finish. She feels nothing. The realization that it was only a dream she was imagining. Can you guess what’s coming?

clump cover

LEs:

A couple of words regarding the aspect of iam’s videos and strategy I have mentioned on the YT board:

Everything about this project is experimental to the bones. Hence, the main characteristic remains the fact that the author detaches himself from his project. The purpose of this act is to enable the viewer to become a participant, as in to ‘fill in the blanks’, think, compare, analyze etc. There’s a shift in perspective in the sense that this ‘product’ is acting upon us not from the outside to the inside (we’re not being fed theories, opinions), but from the inside of our mind, thus seeking to show how reality is reflected in it (we create these theories, we think about them, we filter everything). That is the purpose of iam’s visuals. To me, this is quite remarkable. The battlefield is in us and among us, we’re not being described a battle.

Thing is that they are definitely trying to enlarge the concept of ‘experience‘. That is why suts was chosen, that is why we feel we’re in clump, that is why they’re using all these cinematic devices (the multiple pov, the flashbacks, the slow ups and fade outs) etc. The human experience is never limited and never complete and this is where evolution stands in as well.

Last, but not least, always remember there are three conditions of art: the lyrical, the epical and the dramatic. We’re part of the dramatic.

Purchase Clump on iTunes and Amazon
2020k audio review of Clump
clump’d by eineinmeier

Comments (40)

Love your interpretation of the video/song. I feel so emotional watching the video, knowing that she’s speaking directly to us.

I never dreamed I’d meet someone like you
I want to feed this baby –
The unity of you but un-like you

You see the overall of what we are
A sad sad sight from afar
Why [or "y" - baby reference] don’t you cry

Whatever made you into clump like you
The ice and cold that leaks at the grist of you
Makes us as new

Whatever made you seem so very small
Like a tiny ant in life that lynches art
Who’s standing tall

Cannot wait until I get my hands on you
we can do the things we said we would
You never had a true friend like I
Someone to pick you up when you needed to
Beget it through

If my hands weren’t so very sharp
This broken glass that surrounds wherever we are
Wouldn’t do us part
paaaart

Whatever made you into clump like you
The fiery warmth that makes up the most of you
Is burning true

Whatever made you seem so very small
Like a tiny ant in life that lynches art
Come stand in the dark

Cannot wait until I get my hands on you
we can do the things we said we would
Cannot wait until I see the smiling faces
And our love will be misunderstood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wi​ki/Grist

So the “clump” creature that looks like “cousin it” from Adams Family, is “little hope” right? The baby and then fool/consort of the live videos that is sacrificed and clumps of his ashes are buried. The last live track is of the live video is “.” (which makes sense being a eulogy song and the end) and the next track is “;John”. Semi-colon showing they’re two separate but related thoughts or themes. So perhaps this cycle of videos are still not linear?

BTW. I like your interps but I think you’re missing the bigger picture by comparing it to specific books which loosely fit. iamamiwhoami is a monomyth so it’s going to have similar themes to other things, but it is its own creature and I don’t think draws off of anything specific.

@Daniel thank you
@Mat thanks for the lyrics, they really helped in some places. Also, thanks for the honesty. I am aware of the iamamiwhoami’s own myth, always said it’s a mixture of sources of inspiration that stand at its base. And nothing is going to take away the uniqueness of their concept. Because noone has gone where they went with it. And it’s not even close to being over. I could never make 100% comparison to a single item, be it book, myth etc. However, at this point, I admit I am a little bit channeled on Alraune because it’s more than ‘loosely fit’ with this one :)

“Whatever made you seem so very small
Like a tiny ant in life but lurching for”

I hear

“Whatever made you seem so very small
are you tiny in life but large in thought”

I sort of read ‘thought’ on her lips, tido ;)

Research the work of Joseph Campbell, Erich Nuemann, and Carl Jung. I think it will give a lot more insight into the works of iamamiwhoami. They break down universal myths and symbolism, centered around the alchemical processes (which there are tons of allusions to alchemy in the videos). I see it as the story of the earth goddess’ struggles with the patriarchy of modern civilization as the OVERALL theme, but of course there’s a lot more to it. There’s also a re-occuring theme with the Major Arcana symbolism throughout the videos which would be interesting to dive into. :]

Tido! That’s a great clarification. Thank you!

@Mat Visited your fb page. Explains a lot :) In the good way. In my Evolution of the Dragon post I tried to follow the road of the earth goddess myth. Interested in Major Arcana, will give it a read.

In Crowley’s version of the Tarot Arcana (which is his interpretation of the mystery school) the Empress (personifying Mother Earth) bears the child which becomes the Knight and kills the King to eventually take his place. Just one example. These topics take years to study, but are fascinating and I think very insightful. The symbolic meaning is that the old age we’ve been living in (the king) is taken over by the new age. (which relates to the questions she asked burnupthestation).

Here is the traditional fool’s journey before crowley added his twist to it:

http://www.heroesjourneytarot.com/tarot-fools-journey.html

For some reason, your link doesn’t work.
What you’re telling me about Knight that kills the king can be encountered in the Norse mythology, under another shape, of course. These are basic myths (of creation/rebirth, renewal/transformation which take different shapes in different cultures.
Have you read this?
http://forsakenorder.com/entertainment/11773/journey
How far is it from the fool’s journey.
And if you please, give your link another try. Ta.

Just checked it out. The beginning is just like the fool’s journey. The fool’s journey is one of the best examples of Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth” which is the universal story of all myths, the underlying reoccuring themes. Another example of the father slayed thing would be Zeus killing Cronus and becoming the ultimate crowned God of Olympus and earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth

It seems all the good sites about the fools journey are down. The best crash course is on learntarot.com but today its over bandwidth unfortunately.

http://www.learntarot.com/journey.htm

Hopefully it’ll be up again soon.

Yeah, I had my portion of mythology in life. That being the reason for which I put my finger on it ever since the pre-vids and the second post regarding this project was:
http://forsakenorder.com/entertainment/brain/11084/an-archetypal-and-mythological-approach-to-iamamiwhoami
However, iam is even more :)
I tried searching the fools journey myself, thought it was a technical fault. Will give it another try later on, even though I sort of assume what I am going to find.

Regardless, we are thinking and imagining, which I think is Jonna’s goal with her art and music. Keep up the great work!

Very well said,
cheers!

Wonderful video! Makes a person think and that’s good. Clump does seem to be cousin “it” from the Adam’s family which would indicate that this video is about MO herself and how she finds out about who she really is, clump.

@Mat The songs and imagery are archetypal as you say…And like inkblots we can ultimately find anything that we want in them.

Thanks for the words!

Perhaps we can compare Jonna’s early work to see if the same sources are being tapped or if this seems to come from a strange new place. Are there the same archetypal references in earlier works?

Try this out:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/18005475/Alraune-Illustrations-by-Ilna-EwersWunderwald

The second intermezzo illustration does remarkably resemble the images in the field IMHO. Chuckle.

Sure, I’m biased toward this being an interpretation of Alraune, however, HHE studied fairy tales and folklore extensively, even wrote his own book of fairy tales and children’s stories. An analysis of Alraune appeared in the first issue of Sigmund Freud’s magazine, “Imago” by his colleague Otto Rank.

All this is beside the point because the beautiful songs, lyrics and visuals are completely iamamiwhoami! They have tapped into something that resonates and really made it alive for all of us and I hope they keep doing it!

The WOW concert may only be a little over 1 hour but there will be definitely more videos to this story.

Joe, yes, could be about her finding out indeed. Cousin it looks pretty much soulless :)

Thank you for those images. I saw a couple, but other I haven’t. Very suggestive. Really like the first one.

… i won’t even speak about the last one

Joe, about the earlier works, I haven’t encountered similar references. However, this is a rebirth for her as well, as an artist, so it’s explainable.

I really do think that we’re seeing Alraune, having intercourse, while she imagines herself – as the long haired little kid – seeing her mother.

I think the big giveaway is imagery of the hair. All that is left of Alraune’s mother, in the book, is the strand of her mother’s hair.

Of course MO on the toilet paper bed could represent both Alraune and Alma Raune. For example, when Alma Raune was being artificially enseminated

Actually, I just realized that when Alma Raune was being artificially inseminated by the doctors, she whimpered “Mother – oh – Mother!”

Perfect parallel to this video.

“She laid the little alraune on the silk cushions, looked at it with almost a loving glance and said, ‘You are my father: You are my mother. You are what created me.’”

She talks to Frank in those words, right, Joe?

Oh, my bad. She was in a conversation with him, but talked to the alraune.

To further confuse things, in the book the spirit of the mandrake or alraune was alive. It haunted the old Gontram mansion and caused the little wooden maniken to fall on the maids head, thus creating the entire sequence of events leading to Alraune’s birth. Her mother, the prostitute, Alma Raune, is portrayed as mother earth, the eternal prostitute.

In the videos we see both the spirit of the wooden mandrake or alraune and the spirit of mother earth herself. The spirit of the wooden mandrake doll is portrayed as Jonna painted in the black paint. The mother earth image is portrayed in white and her physical mother, Alma Raune seems to be portrayed in plastic…

In this last video there seems to be a melding of all three mother figures that wants to lovingly embrace her child…

Then of course we have Jonna in a different white costume again as the statue St. John of Nepomuk, who represents the fight of good against evil in the story.

Not to forget Jonna as Sin in the intermezzos!

Totally agree about the spirit. It is IT which is present under various shapes in iam.

I think it makes sense that Jonna with the black tar represents the wooden Mandragora!

In the end of Y we see her in the aluminum foil, which is roughly the same size as the wooden doll in the book.

The three mothers makes me think of the Triple Goddess. The Daughter, The Maiden, and the Crone.

[...] be sure to check out ForsakenOrder’s video analysis on “Clump”. This blogger does one for every Iam video and is always fantastically [...]

@Joe: if you haven’t seen the way out west performance yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3GGzmxCynQ
It’s filmed from the crowd, quality is as expected. Nonetheless, this is the best version of the show we have up to now.
Enjoy!

Thanks for the concert link! Truly an amazing concert. Now the question, was it a loose collection of songs or a story? My vote is the story and we have seen the songs in the correct sequence for the first time…N is the mandrake/alraune song: O is the statue, spirit of good song: T is sin as she floats over the ocean:
B is the mother as a prostitute song: The phone song is about the conception of little hope: then we have Y.
CLUMP shows alraune as a little girl and John shows her in school as a teenager….

roughly half the story so much more still to come!

Another thought in passing, now we can finally see the creative process at work. Apparently the videos lead the songs and not the other way around. To put it bluntly, the videos seem to be inspired from Hanns Heinz Ewers’ Alraune and Jonna’s songs seem to be inspired from the videos! The songs and lyrics themselves seem quite removed from the original story but still related and it gives the effect of the listener not really being able to follow the story unless they already know it…Just my thoughts.

Totally agree with that, Joe! You said it so well!
Glad you enjoyed the concert, we’re definitely waiting for some WOW official footage and, why not – I am certainly hoping – for iamamiwhoami’s perspective on it.

where did you read alraune? i’m searching all over the internet but i cant find the whole book. ‘-’
thanks

Hugo, I purchased Alraune here: http://www.bandelbooksonline.com/2011/01/alraune-by-hanns-heinz-ewers.html

This is the untranslated version of it, if you know German (readable online): http://www.archive.org/details/alraunediegeschi00eweruoft

The latter is very good if you want to see how it is originally structured and what the original drawings portray.

have you seen the legend of Huldra? It fits the clump video perfectly because it shows alraune (while having sex) wanting to be Huldra, the wonderful woman that has a long blond hair, live in the woods and make all men fall in love with her.
it is just a thought, but I think it would be worthy take a look at it.

Maybe it’s a possibility that the doll in u-1 is just the root, instead of the living being. I do not believe though because of the o video. it wouldn’t make sense.

I was thinking if she’s trying change alraune. Instead of being fecundated with a dead man’s semen (like alma raune) the people behind this project (like the professor) are “trying” to fecundate the prostitute with the mandragora itself (a clump of mandragoras, in this case, us during the concert II) like the old man did so many times with other animals in the book.

Probably I’m just tripping, but I thought it would not be bad to share. :)

i think that we are the child depicted: through the sex act we are giving up our innocence and being reborn… we are then cast out into the world with our experience that she has given us she is mother and lover. like mother earth. right?

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