Deniz Cuylan has an extraordinary new video for his track “Flaneurs In Hakone” off his upcoming album No Such Thing As Free Will, due out March 19th via Seattle’s Hush Hush Records. The video is directed by Idil Ergün, with visuals from the Turkish artist Kerem Ozan Bayraktar. Created using Generative Adversarial Networks, or GANs, artificial intelligence that can generate photorealistic images using sophisticated machine learning, Bayraktar’s surreal tableaux of images hover on the edge of recognizability.
Like the video’s sumptuous and morphing imagery, “Flaneurs In Hakone” is a lush and beautiful track that seems to simmer in a constant state of creative activity. Discussing the song, Cuylan explains:
“Wandering and daydreaming around the cascades in Hakone, the core idea of this song came to me. Multi-layered guitar arpeggios creating a chaotic yet harmonious hot spring.”
Like the bulk of No Such Thing As Free Will, “Flaneurs In Hakone” was composed on a Santos model classical guitar built by Thomas Norwood. Cuylan had discovered the instrument at Guitar Salon International in Santa Monica. Initially he decided the instrument was too expensive, but in the end he couldn’t resist the incredible find. While the musician reports that his initial forays on the instrument were frustrating, he soon found the guitar a willing partner. The result on a song like “Flaneurs In Hakone” is a majestic cascade of intertwining guitar, as salubrious and uplifting as the hot springs which inspired it.
