VIDA has spent much of 2024 building the world of Aquatopialien, from the sci-fi-inspired music video for debut single The Story of Takavi, co-directed with Frankie Berge, to their appearances at Whammy’s Dungeon Series and Cubadupa. At its core, Aquatopialien is more than an EP — it’s a fully realised mythology. The project began as a short story about VIDA’s alien alter ego, Takavi, a being sent to Earth to rehydrate its environmental and bodily waters through sound. This narrative weaves seamlessly into the music, blending 70's soul, 90's art pop, jazz, gospel, and funk, influenced by artists like Björk, Erykah Badu, and Flying Lotus. The result is a sonic experience that’s expansive, intimate, and otherworldly.

Recorded at Pōneke’s Black Hole Studio with producer Mark Austin (Vera Ellen’s It’s Your Birthday), Aquatopialien balances organic experimentation with meticulous craftsmanship. Born from voice-first improvisations, the songs carry the raw intimacy of diary entries, layered with intricate textures and storm-like melodies. Reflecting the EP’s themes of emergence and transformation, VIDA recorded the vocals in cocoon-like spaces—predominantly inside a makeshift cave crafted from producer Mark Austin’s duvets—infusing the process with a sense of womb-like enclosure and creative rebirth.