Previously of indie rockers Mellowdrone, collaborator to artists like Alessandro Cortini, and Morgan Kibby, and producer of remixes for different acts including M83 and White Zombie, Jonathan Bates return with his acclaimed Big Black Delta project, with what seems like his most imposing and fully realized offering to date.
Summoner is an industrial/techno smasher in four parts, drawing influence from a sci-fi click from the eighties to develop into a specially genuine piece.
"It's a bit foggy, but I remember drunkenly watching Flight Of The Navigator one morning and I wanted to make a song that made me feel what I felt at that moment," the artist says. "I’d been up since 1am drinking. The sun was coming up. It was super orange because booze does that to my eye sight. The movie provided the nostalgia and the feeling of flying (when the protagonist figures out how to fly the spaceship.) That's why that woozy synth comes in and out in the chorus. At the same time, it was medieval and witchy sounding. Like something you would play to summon a demon. Or daemon depending on how thick your neck beard is."
Summoner comes with the utterly dark aesthetics of its accompanying visual, directed by Warren Kommers and Nina McNeely whose striking choreography further elevates the final outcome.
Bates comments on the video and the significance of his collaborators: "Nina McNeely (CLIMAX) is my favorite choreographer and dancer. Warren Kommers is light years in the future when it comes to the art of the moving picture and what goes into it. I was lucky enough to get into a room with these two after I finished the latest Big Black Delta record. Whenever the three of us convene on a project, it always ends up in another dimension. As we were working on what originally was going to be a dance video where Nina just rips, Warren began developing a narrative and computer technique to make this one of the most frightening things I've ever seen, let alone be a part of. After a lot of trial and error, and Warren essentially hot-rodding current laptop technology, we ended up with something we’re all incredibly stoked on."
Between Rene Magritte's Golconda and David Lynch's Eraserhead, the cinematography and overall film work that make up Summoner is sensational.
"It took me two seconds to say yes when long time collaborators Big Black Delta and Warren Kommers asked me to be a part of the Summoner film," Nina McNeely comments. "The track and the concept took us on a choreographic exploration into possession, visceral ritual and the terrifying powers of monstrous femininity."
Video directed by Warren Kommers & Nina McNeely
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