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Music

Rituals of Mine's Video for "Ride or Die" Is a Love Letter to Oakland

Formerly Sister Crayon, the duo are now releasing under this new moniker.

​This Sacramento duo—made up of  Terra Lopez and Dani Fernandez—have spent many years going by the name Sister Crayon, creating gorgeously gloomy pop that'd find favor with fans of both Warpaint and R&B. But this year in the wake of Terra tragically losing both her father and her best friend, the duo are shedding their skin, emerging as Rituals of Mine. Ahead of their new ​Devoted, (partially produced by The Mars Volta/At the Drive-In's ​Omar Rodriguez Lopez), below is the premiere of their video for "Ride or Die," and the sonic vibes are very Portishead meets Alpines meets Massive Attack (makes sense as they're heading out on tour with Tricky later this fall). It's breathy but bold, the visuals are slo-mo, black and white. It's a cruise through their hood, making features of the characters who make up their world.

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"We wanted to create a love letter to the city of Oakland, which is where we wrote this song and most of the record," explains one half of the band, Terra Lopez. "This city and it's vibe, culture and mood was so essential in how we approached writing our album. We lived in Oakland for about four years and during that time, life changed drastically in all aspects. There is no doubt the town influenced us so it was important to come back when it came to shoot a video for this track- to film at the house on 34th St. and San Pablo where we came up with the lyrics, to film at our old hangouts, to film our actual friends, our girlfriends, real people who live in the hoods where we lived.

"There aren't any actors in this video—it's all people in their elements, with their loved ones, their friends, their passions in Oakland. Oakland is such a beautiful city and I've personally never felt more at home somewhere so it was just a natural choice when it came time to film. The spirit, the hustle, the grit, the intensity and urgency of Oakland. We also felt it was vital to showcase the underrepresented (our folks in the LGBT community, POC, women). That was more important to us than anything. There is so much beauty in the struggle of day to day life—we wanted to capture that."

Watch below:

Rituals of Mine's album,

Devoted,

 is out 9/30 via Warner Bros.