Last month, Emmy nominated Italian composer Daniele Luppi has teamed up with singer Greg Gonzalez of the El Paso-based dream pop outfit Cigarettes After Sex to drop their new collaberative EP, Charm of Pleasure. Today, the duo have shared a music video for their track, “Silent Dream.”
Charm of Pleasure, released on September 16 via Slow Play, saw the two wildly different styles of Luppi and Gonzalez fused together. Luppi, a composer whose resume includes working with everything from Breaking Bad to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, brings his gentle and reserved sensibilities as an orchestral composer together with the dream-pop style Gonzalez has brought as the founder of Cigarettes After Sex.
The five-track album promises a sound and style that neither artist have managed to create in the past, citing inspiration from the aesthetics of the 1982 film Blade Runner and the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, among other sources. The project consists of 5 tracks, including the previously released singles “The Rose You Kept” and “You Never Loved.” See the tracklist and album art for the project below.
Charms of Pleasure Tracklist
The new music video for “Silent Dream,” track 3 of the project, acts as the second visual the duo have released for Charms of Pleasure, following their self-directed visual for “You Never Loved.” The video, directed by Caitlin Gerard, shows actress Keva Walker as she drives through a vintage style car while traveling through romantic memories put through a black and white filter.
In a statement on the new video, Luppi has explained that “”Throughout the conversations I had for the video, there were a few constants I thought had to be there no matter what the final treatment was going to be: a classic 1940’s car, actor/dancer Keva Walker and some kind of a “Lynchian” twist involving vintage footage. I found this incredible-looking 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster in truly impeccable shape. Its design works as a time-machine, or at least as a strong visual twist that transports the story to ‘another’ time, though I use “time” loosely as we didn’t go for a true period piece but rather some kind of retro-futuristic surreal place where everything can happen. Keva’s facial features proved to be the balancing ingredient — they combine so many aspects of human emotion and convey a timeless feeling in such a straightforward way. The idea was to conjure a specific atmosphere through small details: the haircut, the wardrobe, the way they move and occasionally dance, the make up etc. The result is a constant push-and-pull between old and new, classic and avant-garde, traditional and innovative. The “Lynchian” aspect was approached by mixing reality with dream-like sequences, surrealism (a nod to filmmaker Luis Buñuel whose work I love) and some strong violet lighting. Specifically, the alternate reality was represented by actual vintage black&white footage taken from a variety of romantic films, which is slowly discovered in awe (and perhaps envied) by Keva’s character.”
Watch the music video for “Silent Dream” via YouTube below.
In 2017, Daniele Luppi teamed up with the rock band Parquet Courts to drop his previous collaborative album, Milano. Cigarettes After Sex have recently dropped new single titled “Heavenly,” and plan to drop a new full length album on October 25.
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