I like music that flashes me to moments of my life. Whether painful or joyful, I relish in the little flashbacks I get, especially with new music. That’s when the experience is most fresh. SWIMS‘ new video, “Avid Diva,” takes me back to the only night I spent in Italy.

The year I graduated college brought a bunch of changes to my life. Relationships ended, residencies changed, new countries were explored, and career paths discovered. In all that, a specific night stands out thanks to the thump of SWIMS’ drums and the flash of his lights. At the end of a grad program, I was invited to a party. It was the party to end all parties.

My one night was spent in a Milanese palazzo converted from a slaughterhouse. A friend started an annual party several years before and it had taken off. The whole night was a blur of flickering lights and the royal treatment. If we wanted a drink, we had it. If we wanted a better view, we had it. Our hosts would say, “Oh, you’re with E!?” and with a simple “yes” our desires were fulfilled.

“Avid Diva” takes me to that night. The beat and bing of synth reminds me of the only moment of my life embraced with reckless abandon. My hair was long and dripped with sweat and I let go. I moved and drank and talked and danced without a care or attachment in the world—a potent medicine for the melancholy that change had brought me.

SWIMS is Arthur Hnatek’s Berlin-based electronic project. It’s the sound of the unbridled freedom of a young person letting go for the first time.

Hear and see it below:

Wm