Video Premiere: Chimney Choir’s Fantastical and Poetic “An Alternate Life”

ChimneyChoir_030219-139 — Chimney Choir, photo courtesy the artists

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Colorado-based avant-pop band Chimney Choir. But as the seasons are crossing over from the heart of summer to the cool of fall, the group has gifted us with a new single and video with “An Alternate Life.” The video depicts a mythical humanoid opening a suitcase filled with a mysterious, glowing white energy that opens a gate to an expanded universe, an alternate dimension of wondrous creatures and a luminous nightscape of rich colors that evolves into a daylit world wherein the sun is embodied as a curiously ominous figure. The conventional logic of symbols and imagery is challenged in a playful way that offers an alternate interpretation of myth, personal and cultural, set to a bright, expansive melody, textured rhythms and vocals harmonies that embrace us with the introspection of the coming cold and the warmth of the dreams and hopes we harbor for the future. As the title suggests the song and its entrancing animated video is about our ability to dream of a life beyond the one we have right now and the inherent possibilities in that faculty to create the world we want. The single comes ahead of the band’s plans for the release of its new album as outlined in Chimney Choir’s statement on the video and the new record.

“’An Alternate Life’ is the first music video and single from Chimney Choir’s upcoming album, (light shadow). The single, which includes lush alien strings, syncopated bubbly synths, mishmashed beats and evocative vocal play, accompanies a swirly colourful cartoon world drawn by Tom Varani and animated by Evan McCandless. Chimney Choir is currently fascinated with the tilted turning of the planet, human beings’ search for their place in the cosmos, and the mind-bending interplay between light, motion, and time. The new single is emerging around the Autumnal Equinox, when the Northern and Southern hemispheres receive an equal amount of light and shadow, when a brief moment of equilibrium occurs between the ‘Yang’ of summer and the ‘Yin’ of Winter. The (light shadow) album represents the deepest down and the farthest in that the band has ever gone in both collaborative writing and sound design. (light shadow) will be released on Winter Solstice, December 21st and Chimney Choir will be having an album release party on December 31st at The Mercury Cafe in Denver.”

As per past album release parties, Chimney Choir will have an utterly unique experience that will involve theater, the participation of those in attendance and special guests making it, truly, an event of the season. Watch the video for “Alternate Life” below and follow Chimney Choir at the links provided.