Following the release of his album Fragments, Bonobo has dropped a music video for the album track “Shadows”. Released on Ninja Tune last Friday, the new album features huge artists including Joji, Jordan Rakei, who features on “Shadows”, and Miguel-Atwood Ferguson. Watch the video for “Shadows” below:
Described by the artist as “old school, Detroity, Moodymann and Theo Parrish-inspired”, Fragments pays tribute to the glory days of deep house. The track ‘Shadows’ itself sounds ripped from Parrish’s First Floor, with signature rising synths and click-clack drums, though Rakei’s vocals make the track sound much more updated than Parrish’s debut, released over 20 years ago. The track writhes in nostalgia yet upholds all the glossy elements of modern house.
The surreal music video is a dizzying collection of snapshots; shadows, silhouettes, and crowds meander and duplicate themselves into grids and gauzes. It is hard to tell if Mr. Rakei himself makes an appearance in the video, all the more adding to the music video’s disorienting feel.
Directed by BWTV, the video for “Shadows” emulates their previous video-making styles, comprising of distorted clips in a retro style, though typically such clips will be overlayed on footage of artists. Their video for Man of Moon’s “Strangers” video read like a broken VCR tape, whose real had been sunburnt only in the best, most aesthetically pleasing spots. Their style befits artists like Bonobo, whose staccato deep house drums befit the choppy visual style.
Bonobo’s Fragments album is his first in four years, since 2017s Migration that landed him a number one spot on the dance album charts. Certain album singles that were release prior to Fragments went on to see huge popularity and acclaim, with “Rosewood” alone earning a number three spot on Spotify’s Best Electronic Songs of 2021.
Speaking on the album, Bonobo discusses the sonic influences that went into this project: “It’s all come full circle now — that emotional rave music. I think there’s some really fun stuff happening at the moment; this resurgence of breakbeat, like the slow, deconstructed junglist kind of stuff.” In an interview with DJMag for their cover feature last year, Bonobo praises Overmono with spearheading this new, welcome trend in UK dance: “They’ve done some amazing stuff. I love that approach to it, where it’s stripped down but emotional… it’s almost a throwback to people like Mike Paradinas, that Rephlex era of breakbeats. That was something I was into.”
Listen to Bonobo’s Fragments below:
