Tristan Kasten-Krause has a fascinating new video for his track “From Thin Air” ft. Lisel, off the New York-based composer/bassist’s upcoming album Potential Landscapes due out April 3rd on Whatever’s Clever. The musician’s debut effort saw him involved in a deeply collaborative effort with a group of close friends: Cloud Nothing’s drummer Jason Gerycz, experimental vocalist Lisel (Eliza Bagg), Tigue percussionist Matt Evans, electric guitarist and composer Brendon Randall-Myers, and violinist and cheesemonger Carol Johnson, with album art made by his brother, Jordan Kasten-Krause.
The track “From Thin Air” features vocals from Lisel. Describing the track, Kasten-Krause explains, “”From Thin Air’ is cathartic music based on shared loss. The name has a double meaning; something can either disappear from thin air or emerge from thin air – it’s the bittersweet space we are inhabiting right now.” With Lisel’s vocals layered into soaring harmonies and the buzzing hum of what sounds like bowed strings, the track offers a spellbinding ambiance.
The video for the track was created by the directors John Syzonenko and Charles Gangemi using machine learning programs. Fed over 200 landscape images of Iceland from the photographer Chris Cubellis, the AI software created “landscapes that are augmentations of real locations.” From there, the directors used the visual-performance software TouchDesigner to add a performative aspect to the video. Towards that end, Gangemi interfaced the textures while Syzonenko interfaced the viewport. The result is a thrilling adventure through shifting geometries and patterns of colored light.
