Big Black Delta is the solo outing by notable musician Jonathan Bates, who has spent time in bands like M83 and Mellowdrone. He’s releasing a fourth LP under the moniker, aptly titled 4, this Friday on July 10. He’s also giving the latest single from that album, “Vessel,” a worldwide release on that same day but today you can hear it excusively here as we’re premiering the song and video.
The song is filled with orchestral synth instrumentation along with a chorus of ringing bells and
The video was directed by Warren Kommers and features Bates in a massive, mostly-empty room that resembles a museum gallery. There are a few random objects hanging on its expansive white walls, including a frustratingly off-center portrait, a sub-woofer building into the wall, a porcelain urinal and two framed pictures – one of an emoji and one of a microphone. On the opposite corner the paint has begun to bubble up and peel, the lone belmish on what is otherwise a pristine white room.
“When approaching Warren about doing something for this song, he and I were both at points in our lives where we were revisiting past failed relationships and our responsibility in their failures,” said Bates. “I sent him the song which is about me owning up to my victimhood. A few days later he had a complete pre-visual and the whole video laid out. It was a fabulous experience watching it start from a vision in his head to the final edit.”
Later, the scene changes to a different gallery-esque room with two women dancing together, all to the right of the frame. As the frame expands to the left, the abstract paintings hanging in the womens’ room begin to colorize, and one of the women disappears into the ether. When a man enters the picture and starts to dance with the remaining woman, the picture shifts back to Bates, who repeatedly tries to enter the other side of the frame, only to be violenty thrown back into his room. Eventually the black to the right of the frame squeezes his room into oblivion in a very Lynchian twist.
Previous singles from 4 include “Lord Only Knows,” “Canary” and “Summoner.” The album will be out July 4.
4 Track List
1. “Lord Only Knows”
2. “Vessel”
3. “Politics Of Living”
4. “Summoner”
5. “Ballad Of The Co-Dependent”
6. “Sunday”
7. “Heaven Here I Come”
8. “Canary”
9. “White Lies”
10. “Killing Me”
11. “Air Conditioned Dork”
12. “Yes”
Photo Credit: Marv Watson
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