Brooklyn Artist Alyson Greenfield Debuts Electronic Single & Video “Community”
Brooklyn singer/songwriter Alyson Greenfield has just released her debut electronic single “Community.” The track was recorded by Joe McGinty (Moby, Gotye, The Psychedelic Furs) and produced by Mickey Kellerman (Future Rock). The upcoming music video was shot by Adam Holz and edited by Emmy Award Winning Editor Tony Zajkowski (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; Ariana Grande: Excuse Me, I Love You). The track addresses the power inequities in society, coming from the perspective of a queen/monarch who uses control tactics to play with people’s minds and lives. It addresses the fact that people have always created communities to have belonging and celebrate humanity, and that “the powers that be” can strip those communities of many things (rights and necessities), and even their lives.
LISTEN TO “Community” HERE
WATCH VIDEO HERE
The seeds of “Community” were planted when Alyson was at sleepaway camp in 5th grade and first heard Suzanne Vega’s “The Queen and the Soldier.” The song struck her so much as she imagined the soldier coming to the powerful queen, asking why she did what she did, and still the queen had the power to kill the soldier for questioning her.
“In the camp sing-alongs of ‘The Queen and the Soldier’, whenever we came to the lines ‘Out in the distance her order was heard / And the soldier was killed still waiting for her word’ I felt a deep pang in my heart imagining someone having the power to end someone else’s life. I always knew those words were coming, and still they struck me every time. The images and feelings of this song stayed with me for years and years–so much so, that when I was coming up with the visuals for the ‘Community’ video I decided I wanted to represent the power structures of the song by paying homage to the original inspiration from Vega, which is why I decided to inhabit the two characters of the queen and the soldier/warrior.”
Greenfield tapped her musical collaborator Joe McGinty (Greenfield and McGinty can be seen performing around NYC as their electronic outfit POLYVOX) to record the track, and she sent the recording to Mickey Kellerman (known for his electronica band Future Rock) to bring the intensity and hard-hitting beats to the track. For the video she brought in longtime collaborator and cinematographer Adam Holz who also shot her “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “Gangsta’s Paradise” videos, as well as Emmy Award Winning Editor Tony Zajkowski to bring the visuals to another realm.
Alyson remarks, “What Tony did with the edit and the visuals from the raw footage we gave him was astounding. It’s what I love about collaboration. Other people’s artistic brains get to interact with your art, and Tony brought the visuals to a whole other place. And speaking of collaboration, the fact that I got to work with so many dear friends whose art I respect was enlivening. What Tony did to the video edit and what Mickey did to the song production pushed the messages and the possibilities further. I love how they heard and saw things in the music and the images that I, myself, didn’t even initially envision.”
Alyson Greenfield is a multi-disciplinary creator whose projects have been seen and/or heard on Fox, Lifetime, WNYC, The New York Times, The New Yorker, HuffPost, LA Examiner, Glamour, Teen Vogue, and more. She has shared the stage with a wide range of artists including NPR Tiny Desk Winner Gaelynn Lea, Beatboxing Legend Rahzel, and Actress/Rapper Awkwafina. In the past couple of years Greenfield’s hip hop persona ALY G has also taken off which has led to collaborations with Grammy Nominated Producer Baby Paul (Nas, J Dilla, Angie Stone) and the The Hype Magazine saying, “With a knack for blending rapid-fire rhymes with themes of feminism and social commentary, ALY G’s fearless approach to music promises to inspire and uplift audiences far and wide.”
In addition to her musical and creative pursuits, Greenfield is the founder of the Tinderbox Music Festival, an event which showcased over 100 female fronted bands and artists from around the world, while giving back to NYC nonprofits empowering young women through the arts. She is also currently a Distinguished Lecturer at CUNY’s Hunter College where she is the Director of the Arts Management and Leadership Certificate program where she advises and mentors young artists and arts managers.
Greenfield says, “I’m doing my best living my “Hannah Montana life’. Professing by day and singing and rapping by night! It’s certainly a full life that encompasses so many of my passions!”
