Barzin unveils hypnotic new video for ‘Watching’
Four years in making, Toronto artist Barzin is releasing his fifth studio album ‘Voyeurs In The Dark’ on 22nd April. That the album is more cinematic in its scope and conceptual in feel than his previous studio albums can be attributed to the time he spent over the past several years composing the soundtrack for the independent film, Viewfinder.
Voyeurs In the Dark retains that cinematic quality, and at the same time infuses the music with elements taken from Jazz, electronica, rock and pop. Having primarily explored the quiet side pop and folk in his previous four albums, Barzin has expanded his musical palate, broadening his sound towards a more an experimental direction, while still retaining his preoccupation with exploring the internal landscape. The uniformity of sound that characterized the previous albums has been abandoned for the expression of differing aspects of the self that at times hold opposing views and desires. This is best represented in the image chosen for the cover of the album, which depicts three figures in one body. The album seems to be the expression of not one unified self, but the various aspects of the self.
Voyeurs In the Dark sees the artist plot a seductive, contemplative route through city haze, shuttling between graceful glimmering interludes, with wonderfully atmospheric songs at every stop. On new single Watching, Barzin plunges himself deeper into a wash of cyclic bass, guitar and synth riffs, as the gloom grooves into light.
About Watching Barzin reveals, “It’s always difficult to pinpoint what really inspires a song or a track, but if I tried to retrace my steps, I would say that maybe the muse arrived after I watched the film A short Film About Love by the Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski. The theme of looking runs throughout the film. It is about a young man who becomes obsessed by a beautiful woman who lives in an apartment across from him. He begins to watch her every night from his apartment. It is a very powerful film that deals with the themes of fantasy, desire, and voyeurism.
So, I think that was the jumping point for me. I’m interested in the concept of voyeurism. I think humans are deeply voyeuristic. You just have to look the popularity of Facebook and Instagram. People are literally looking into other people’s lives every second.”
The video for Watching, shot by Michel Villeneuve, is dripping with floral indie-noir gorgeousness as shadowy abstract visuals swathe over Barzin and Set Feux. The fellow Canadian singer provides soft enchanting accompaniments to Barzin’s hypnotic carousel of melancholic moods as the pair entwine further and further.
Voyeurs In the Dark will be released worldwide on Monotreme Records on April 22nd 2022 digitally, followed by physical releases on CD and 180 g black vinyl on May 6th. Pre-orders of vinyl LPs or CDs from the Monotreme Records web shop will also include a free limited edition 27-page booklet of poems by Barzin, Playboys in the Holyland.
Pre-orders here: http://monotremerecords.limitedrun.com/categories/barzin
https://orcd.co/voyeursinthedark
