Sonic Cinema 09- Music videos from Chiminyo, Defrag and Gifts From Crows

This live session recording of “Reachin’” by North London based drummer Chiminyo shows a raw and energetic performance that features his unique electronic and percussion setup. With no loops or backing tracks, viewers and listeners can witness firsthand the self-coded software innovated by the musician, where each cymbal and drum crash hit triggers synths and samples to play live with him. The raw and futuristic, psychedelic track comes from his debut 2020 album I Am Panda which represented the artist’s experimentation and venture away from Jazz. Chiminyo has previously performed with other top London musicians including Maisha and Cykada.

‘Glass Ship’ is a track from Defrag’s album Float that will be debuting on February 22, 2022. Depicting a dystopian scene and metaphor, the video portrays ominous elements including a veiled figure manipulating puzzle pieces, a large glass orb in the sky, and an apocalyptic fragility. Creating a metaphor for the current climate crisis, the video tells the story of a loss of control in a vessel that appears strong, but actually is weak and vulnerable to the wrong influence.

Float will be the third album from Defrag who previously released Drown in 2014 and Lament Element in 2009.

Gifts From Crows is Richard Laurence, a neoclassical and ambient piano composer who has come together in collaboration with Helena Whitten for the second single in the ‘Stories in Slow Light Series.’ The video for ‘The Empty Mirror’ is based on a photograph taken by Whitten of a single figure standing in front of an oval frame, capturing an area that used to hold a mirror. In the video, a solo dancer performs a contemporary routine in an old house, evoking memories of the ancestors and souls who had passed through that now-absent mirror. As the dancer moves gracefully and naturally around the space, her body flows in line with the cello, viola, and violin features within the track.