News

BIG BLACK DELTA RETURNS WITH THE NEW TRACK ‘SUMMONER’

March 25, 2020

BIG BLACK DELTA

RETURNS WITH THE NEW TRACK ‘SUMMONER’

Three years after the release of his exploratory ‘WHORU812’ project, Big Black Delta – aka Jonathan Bates – returns with the new track ‘Summoner’, which previews his upcoming fourth album. BBD’s renown has only grown in that time, with a substantial audience discovering his work after ‘Huggin & Kissin’ was featured as a key element in the narrative of the Netflix smash ‘The Sinner’.
 
Always expressing a distinct sonic vision, Bates has created something somehow sinister and soothing with ‘Summoner’. It’s an otherworldly amalgamation of eerie atmospherics, blackened electro-pop and startling industrial rhythms. It’s an unlikely concoction inspired by a very specific  moment.


 
“I remember drunkenly watching ‘Flight Of The Navigator’ one morning and I wanted to make a song that captured how I felt at that moment,” says Bates“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. 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.”
 
For the video, Bates enlisted his favourite choreographer Nina McNeely (BjörkRihannaGaspar Noé’s ‘Climax’) and the visionary filmmaker Warren Kommers (twenty one pilotsThe Neighbourhood) as co-directors. They created an unholy vision which melds elements of found footage, body horror and American folklore into six nightmarish minutes.
 
Bates recalls, “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.”
 
Kommers adds, “We were inspired by found footage, and what if there was a ‘Blair Witch’-esque musical presentation. My suspension of disbelief is incredibly hampered when watching 90% of musicals, but I love the anti-musical. Basically, any other reason to dance besides joy or love is interesting to me.  Nina and I were also inspired by ghosts in movies from the ‘80s.
 
We went and shot background plates in Trona, California. The dancing and apparition were shot on greenscreen over the course of a day in Los Angeles. I primarily remember how physically taxing Nina’s dancing was and how terrifying it was watching the ghost’s performance live.”
 
In short, says McNeely“The track and the concept took us on a choreographic exploration into possession, visceral ritual and the terrifying powers of monstrous femininity.”
 
Jonathan Bates first came to attention as frontman of Mellowdrone before joining M83’s live band. His friend Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails) encouraged him to experiment with making music on a laptop, a suggestion that instigated his long running creativity as Big Black Delta. So far, Big Black Delta has released three albums, collaborated with artists as diverse as Dhani HarrisonKimbra, and Debbie Gibson, and remixed Puscifer and White Zombie. The project has also seen Bates team up with M83: first by remixing their track ‘Midnight City’, and then by sharing remix duties on ‘Fall’ from Daft Punk’s soundtrack to ‘Tron: Legacy’.

You Might Also Like

No Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.