Douglas Joyman's music is a something like an archaic projection of light, the kind you might find beaming through the window of an antique, clandestine-looking new-york apartment.
At a first look, the France-born, Brazilian-bred Singer-Songwriter's music sounds like suave lounge-music with a twist, extra garnished with string orchestrations and the transitioning flamenco guitars.
It's only when you get uptight to the radiant light and squint through the glass, out into the outside world, that the beautiful panorama becomes vividly apparent through the visual direction of Marco Villard on their latest collaborative music video.
On the exterior, "Crimes and Blooms," the newest single from the NYC-based songster's upcoming EP, is a love song: a dance touched with horns, strings, and reverb steel, with a soundscape so expressive and dynamic it might have been recorded in a vintage studio under the direction of some of the greatest poets and producers.
Meandering within the vintage textured captures of New York's streets, and dousing the surrounding with his elegist stanzas, Joyman's enamoring sense of artistry declares itself wholeheartedly throughout the playback.
Shot on an antique 1943 keystone criterion 16mm camera, the vintage characters featured both on film and sonically, mimics the best of sentimentality; Joyman's sharp, transparent, and nonchalant voice is hedged with weaving strings that pluck and dance, while horns accent each falsetto rise that expresses like a solemn singing maestro lost at heart.
It's relatively pastiching of antique cinema, traversing between black and white shots and recreating scenes from the French 60s cult classics 'Bande à part' and 'Breathless,' through the choice of aesthetic.
The visuals and lyrics render-up a man perpetually lost in a Byronic experience within New York City, which mirrors the Paris of his fantasies, and the emotion behind it is potent, feeling genuine with each romantic trill.
When Joyman's voice peaks over the lines, "changing the sun into crimes and blooms," dawdling into a swooning falsetto, you can feel him channeling in the gloom of his melancholic world, festooned with twinkling pianos, sophisticated strings, and rendering up like timeless cinema.
With the help of Marco Villard's visual standards, Douglas Joyman, and all his creative expression comes to life on "Crimes and Blooms."
What were your most cherished moments of filming the video for 'Crimes and Blooms'?
Nothing can beat an empty Times Square at night. It was incredible to be in the middle of it, without a soul in sight, and feel the silent immensity.
Why was reimagining Paris through your video such an integral part of 'Crimes and Blooms' message and, does it relate to your birth-place in a way?
We were lucky to have an old fashioned roll camera and we decided to honor the French New-wave with some "Breathless" scenes inspirations. Paris in a way, tagged along during the shoot on its own.
What were some of the most profound emotions you found yourself channeling into during the recording of 'Crimes and Blooms,' and were those emotions any different during the video's filming?
The emotions of this music came from a place that I am still trying to find. Very different sorts of feelings appeared on the set. It was more about improvisation, being influenced by everything that surrounded us. Being alert. Catching every instant moment.
If you could give us a few words that would act as a prologue to the experience behind the sonics and visuals in 'Crimes and Blooms,' what would you say and why?
The video of "Crimes and Blooms" is a succession of happy and random encounters. We got this marvelous camera from the mother of the girlfriend's director, a 1943 Keystone Criterion, then we added some sounds that I recorded at the Jack White's studio in Detroit (Third Man Records), the pandemic gave us these stunning empty streets and the apocalypse aspect. We revealed the film in a very special lab called Metropolis Post NYC where Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch, used to work with. Nothing was planned. So I guess it's a beautiful Ode to the City.
What has been keeping you inspired in 2020?
Moving to New York City with Ziggy and meeting Luna.
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