the ugly letter 013 | more music videos
a deep dive into music videos by lily piette and pictoria vark, our friend of the hug mak creden and a new release playlist!
i recently hosted a show n tell with my friends, and let me tell you, what a great time it was. some of the noted items; a sprinkler head, a childhood photo with paul mccartney, a book from the crush that radicalized them in high school, family lies, imported candy, the fanciest bar of soap you’d ever see, a device that talks to plants, a fidget toy sales pitch and the best secret drink recipe anyone could ask for… you’d have to ask avalon for it. anyways, do it with your friends. it’s good for ya.
-s
we are so excited to share our latest ugly letter with you all! we are taking a look at some of our favorite recent music videos from pictoria vark and lily piette. we are also extremely happy to be sharing our latest friend of the hug feature with chicago’s mak creden. stick around for a new release playlist at the end. and for a recap of site stuff; interview with mila moon, sister., and darryl rahn — guest playlists by guitar, lily seabird, kan kan, and carter ward — singles by people i love, hell trash, and les duck. it’s tunes time. check em out!
without further ado…
“make me a sword” by pictoria vark
Victoria Park is a Chicago-based songwriter who performs under the moniker Pictoria Vark. earlier this year, park released her sophomore album nothing sticks. It’s a stunning collection of songs that have been a long time coming for the songwriter, as the album is as vivid as it needs to be, rearing an earnest delivery that dares to challenge the fronts that become habit to us all.
music video credits
Directed by Haoshu Sascha Deng
DP: Haoshu Sascha Deng
Producer: Victoria Park
1st AC: Wesley Park
Gaffer: Suwon Jeong & Wesley Park
Production Design & Costumes: Lola Selby
Chainmaille pieces: Gail Everding
Art hand/Grip: Gwen Giedeman
Art hand: Jane Carlson & Eli Han
Photographer & Production Assistant: Kenny Heggie
Editing: Haoshu Sascha Deng
Cast:
Victoria Park as Victoria Park
Eli Han as Doppelgänger
Special Thanks:
Eleven04
Andrew Tricaso
Victoria Park: I really love tarot cards and the sword suite in particular is just so funny to me - some of those cards are so dramatic and morose that they kind of become funny again. With the song lyrics having some medieval imagery and themes, I thought it would be fitting to recreate those sword minor arcana in different tableaus in service of a unified narrative. I knew Sascha is a filmmaker and had directed videos for her band Sunshy (Wes and Gwen also helped with the shoot) which I really loved and knew I wanted to bring her onto this project immediately. In discussing the concept further, she brought in Lola Selby during this pre-production phase as well, who did such an amazing job sourcing props and costumes. This was the first video I did with any sort of crew involved and it was amazing to let them take the reins and expand on my initial idea.
Haoshu Sascha Deng: I was thinking of old fantasy films within camera special effects and jewel toned color palettes (Adventures of Barron Munchausen, The Tales of Hoffman, Black Narcissus, Never Ending Story). When Victoria brought the idea of the sword suite of tarot cards, I wanted to emulate the old school mysticism through those effects.
VP: My favorite part of the process was getting to play with all the swords while wearing some real chainmaille, looking my best. We had only one or two takes to get the shot of me swinging the sword into the cake and I remember it felt so visceral and good to swing the sword for real. Being on such a tight budget with huge ideas was challenging in that we had to get really creative with reusing set pieces and props, sourcing things we could borrow, digging through the thrift stores to see what would fit into the modern medieval vision. Actually, in the very early stages it was a big challenge to find ten real swords to rent that wouldn’t exceed the budget for the entire project. But we knew we couldn’t compromise on those because fake swords would look so noticeably fake on camera. Somehow, we found our swords (shout out to Lola).
HSD: My favorite part was when we went out at sunrise to capture the scene at the beach. I was worried that people wouldn't be game for it — the November morning was freezing — but it was all worth it when the sky finally started turning blue. We only had around 25 minutes of blue hour so we had to work really fast. It was a beautiful way to start the second day of shooting together. I think every part of it had challenges because of the small crew size, small budget, and space. For me personally it was the editing because we ended up constructing the story in a less linear fashion than planned. Victoria and I worked closely together to finalize the beats and color. But I’m really happy with what we ended up deciding on!
VP: Our team of PAs were tasked with melting down dozens of candles to make what we called “Candle Mountain”. The first time we used it on set, it set off all the smoke alarms in my building! It was so funny to see that as they all melted down further, the individual flames would morph into one bigger scarier flame and we’d have to take some candles out or swap them between takes (you can see some glimpses of the big flame starting to happen if you look for it). It was such a creative and unique touch - RIP Candle Mountain.
listen to pictoria vark’s latest album nothing sticks out everywhere now!
photos by pv, Gwen Giedeman, Kenny Heggie
“pickup” by lily piette
lily piette is a new york-based artist who last year shared her debut album Her Computerized Machinery Complex. As a collection, it is both immediate and unsuspecting, garnishing deep influences of nostalgic patterns and sharp instrumentation that cuts deep with both sincerity and cynicism — offering a heavily involved flavor that coats the palate unburdened by intentionality and experimentation. a few weeks ago, lily shared a new single called “pickup”, finding excitement in the rhythm and heavy sounds she continues to explore.
music video credits:
Julia Petrocelli- co director and cinematographer
Noah Rubien- camera assistant and dancer
Lily Piette- co director and editor
Lily Piette: Me and Julia were super inspired by Adam Green’s music video for his song “Buddy Bradley”. We liked his nonchalant way of walking around the city and different establishments. We also initially had this idea for me to be chasing / being chased by a little toy car around the city. This idea got a little lost but the toy car does make some appearances throughout the video! But overall the song , “PickUp” is really about picking yourself up off the ground and doing the things that make you feel good, so we wanted the ambiance to be super FUN and lighthearted (and funny too).
It was super fun for me to just be dancing freely in public. I had my headphones in to hear the song instead of using speakers and this method allowed me to really be in the song and not worry about the people around me. It was super freeing. The most challenging part of the video was the editing. I had so much footage and there were so many ways to go about editing it. I ended up leaving a lot of it up to chance, throwing footage around freely and just keeping what worked.
We started to ask random people if I could dance with them for the video. A lot of people declined but I got to dance with the Hermès security guard and a man selling his paintings on the street. I also stopped by the restaurant I work at and danced with my friend, Alice Burg, (a fellow musician who goes by the name GRTV). These clips are really quick in the video but you can catch them if you look closely :)
listen to lily’s latest album her computerized machinery complex out everywhere now!
friend of the hug: mak creden
Makenzie Creden (Mak) is a Chicago-based music fanatic and radio nerd. From 9-5, you can find her promoting the best new music to radio stations around the country through Tiger Bomb Promo, but she has her hands in many hats (a true Gemini). As an artist at heart, she’s known to take the occasional photo, dabbles in video art, and runs a Chicago music zine, glitzy. Prone to be the “mom-friend” of the group, Mak has taken that mindset into the music world through soft management of a few of her friends’ projects: Samuel Aaron, This House is Creaking, and Laveda. Mak’s long-term goal within the music ecosystem is to continue learning, growing, creating, and bringing people together through genuine connection.
tiger bomb radio promo
along with her work of promting some of the best bands in the game right now with tiger bomb, mak recently booked her first show ever, coined chicago’s first ever tiger bomb showcase. held at schubas on 8/15 with a stacked bill of chicago favorites samuael aaron, half gring, simma cuningham and tenci! you can grab a ticket now!
photography
mak has been working as a freelance photographer for a long time now, focusing on stunning artist portraits and capturing the exciting feeling of live performances so naturally and with so much care. you can even find a photo of hers in Rolling Stone featuring chicago’s half gringa.
photos in order:
half gringa
katie von schleicher
waxahatchee
tomberlin Mak’s sacred hobby is baking cakes for her friends (peep @cookiewizard666)
GLITZY!
Glitzy is the DIY chicago-based music zine that focuses on organic press and building connections to the artists that we love. started by mak, along with Avalon Smith, Josie Stahler, and Aly Westrin in May 2024, the four set out to combat post-college burn out by creating an artistic outlet for their passions and beginning to connect the dots between the artists in chicago and the community that they are a part of. Glitzy is releasing their second issue this month, check out their first issue here:
listen to mak’s listening picks!
need something new to listen to? we got ya!
new songs from ugly hug favorites slake, swinging, flooding, benny benji, lisa/liza, herr god, idle county, flowers for the dead, gaadge, public health, hollyfrancis and many many many more! take a listen and let us know what you like :)
thanks again for following along! take care of yourself and each other!
