Bay Area Songstress Drea. M Releases New Video, “Timebomb,” About Personal Freedom and Empowerment

Drea. M commands the heart to listen. Soulful grit, haunting vocals, and mesmerizing live performances make this Bay Area songstress a must-hear sonic treat. With gutsy, raw emotion at the core of her songs, Drea. M does not compromise on the other elements of songwriting. Her lyrics are sophisticated, provocative, and expressed in unique cadences and layers, creating an unusual sonic quality, both edgy and refined. From multi-instrumental acoustic arrangements on her first album, Surrender (released under the name “Drea Muldavin”), to the more recent incorporation of electronic, orchestral, big-sound beats (such as her “Timebomb” single), Drea. M’s style is ever-expanding, teasing her music into new realms. No matter the direction her songs take, what continues to drive her music is a haunting, atmospheric, and intricately textured sound, and an unwavering honesty about what it means to be profoundly alive. Drea. M has recently filmed a new video in support of her latest single, “Timebomb.”

Says Drea. M, “The ‘Timebomb’ video is about finding personal freedom and empowerment by breaking free of the ways we hold ourselves back. It’s about surfing emotional edges in spite of that pit in the stomach, and then jumping… I wrote the song at a time when I felt a sense of ‘now or never,’ a sense of great urgency, and I immediately conceptualized the shibari rope work because I wanted to exemplify being held, bound, and suspended in time, right at that moment when we want nothing more than to be free of all that has held us back for so long. In that sense, both the song and the video are about that wild, igniting energy that contains itself just short of explosion, and how we can find empowerment and clarity — even moments of ecstasy — in that restraint.”

“Drea. M’s voice captures your ear with a familiar, soft lushness. You immediately trust its honesty. In the video for her song, ‘Timebomb,’ we see her bite her teeth into the constricting rope that binds her, an image that perfectly complements the sensuality of the song. Drea.M’s voice carries secrets – the ones you typically only hear whispered – and she shares them with full-throated abandon without ever losing her mysterious edge.” – Zaron Burnett III, Sex & Culture writer for Playboy.com

Watch Drea. M’s “Timebomb” video here: https://youtu.be/-LOhEKUbswc

After a very successful Indiegogo campaign, Drea. M shot the video in the course of two full nights at American Steel Studios in Oakland. The crew included LP Satsuki Murashige and Producer Dimitri Moore. Because she had a relatively short timeframe within which to shoot the video, the energy was intense and focused, and much like the concept behind the video, aspects of the performance were physically and psychologically challenging, pushing Drea. M to the edge of her comfort zone. She explains, “One example of this was when I chose to be tied up and suspended in order to sing in an upside-down, full-harness shibari rope suspension. While this shot enters the video for just a short period, a lot of time, communication, and safety awareness went into the preparation for this shot. The intensity of the moment — when I began to sing while suspended upside-down, knowing I had very little time to capture the lines while in such a restrictive harness — lent itself to the energy of the performance. It was a total rush for me…frightening, exciting, and liberating all at once.”

Drea. M will be releasing her new EP December 1st, and having the CD release at Awaken Café in Oakland, CA on Dec 3rd, 2015. Says Drea. M, “It is a true honor to be co-producing the album with David Earl — an incredible composer, producer, and collaborator who understands where I am taking my sound and cherishes musical exploration. I am very excited about this new body of work! After the CD release in December, the plan is to do a Pacific Northwest tour, play some other cities across the country, and then do a European tour.”

In closing Drea. M says, “What I wish to convey to my fans through my music is what I try to keep in mind every day, as a mantra of sorts: never give up on yourself, especially when you are just about to, and always push your boundaries, especially when you most feel like hiding in the safety zone. My own journey with music and performance has been a long and winding trajectory, and the path is never paved ahead of time. Songwriting and performing one’s innermost thoughts, fears, and desires is all about edge-surfing — finding those emotional cliffs and staying there, and I believe we should live our lives on those edges as much as we can. Why? Because empathy is the most powerful tool we have, and what keeps us from engaging our empathy to the fullest is our fear of feeling intensely. Music that taps into the universality of emotion allows people to feel deeply, and to then move through the world with more awareness, compassion, and capacity for connection with others. That’s what music is ultimately about…connection.”