BALMORHEA :: Pyrakantha (Official video)

Shot at twilight over the course of 42 days, Colin Kennedy’s video for “Pyrakantha” by Balmorhea follows skater Danny Garcia through the streets of LA at the magic hour.

I discovered Western Vinyl—a prolific independent record label founded in 1998 based in Austin, Texas that releases original, emotional and colorful music for almost 15 years now—only last year and picked up a couple of releases that sounded really interesting. The first one I picked, Stray Ashes, is a beautiful album by Brooklyn–based recording artist JBM containing some of the most captivating music I’ve heard recently. The other one, Stranger, is an album by Austin’s own Balmorhea—a wonderful six-piece instrumental group. On Stranger, Balmorhea presents an experimental, panoramic and spellbinding blend of post-rock, folk, ambient, jazzy flavors and delicate electronic treatments. When thinking of post-rock and ambient, Hammock and Explosions in the Sky might come to mind, but Balmorhea doesn’t sound like any other band or artist. “Pyrakantha” is the eight track on Stranger and the official video for it that was created by Colin Kennedy premiered this month.

I have always enjoyed and appreciated a good synchronization between sound and visuals, and in this case I also feel deeply connected to concept. Some words from the label and Colin Kennedy: Shot at twilight over the course of 42 days, Colin Kennedy’s video for “Pyrakantha” by Balmorhea follows skater Danny Garcia through the streets of LA at the magic hour. In Kennedy’s own words: “There’s a brief moment each day where the lights of the city contrast perfectly with the dusky sky and when I first heard Pyrakantha, I immediately thought of that moment. For the video, I wanted to suspend that brief window of light over the course of the entire song and by using a skateboarder as a guide, take the viewer on a journey through some of my favorite places in Los Angeles while the last light of day fades into night.” It is the brief moment Kennedy is talking about that I feel deeply connected to. I always thought it’s an enchanting part of the day, but when watching the video I also—for the first time in my life—saw the beauty in skateboarding, I felt the spirit of it. The combination of Danny Garcia on skateboard, evening twilight and the sounds of “Pyrakantha” is really moving. This video is a stunning piece of art.

Balmorhea | Stranger | Western Vinyl