Was just reflecting on the emergence of "Visual Albums" after this article was brought to my attention highlighting CANYON. Truth be told, I did not want to label CANYON as such since it comes at the heels of amazing visual releases, but i've been personally trying to put together a "visual album" since 2010, and failing to execute until CANYON.
My first attempt came at the release of my first MIRS solo EP, SPIN CYCLE. I couldn't pull resources together to execute. The second time came with the release of MEAT ON YOUR LONELY BONEZ, and again, while a treatment was prepared and some meetings arranged, we never went ahead and executed. Which, in hindsight proves valuable, since I feel those concepts lacking cohesion now. But, thats the truth with any work from the past done, or undone.
The interesting question here is how this one came about and why the other two attempts failed. Simply, we reversed the process of production. We first shot CANYON, the film, then we got to finishing the record. Of course, both these things were happening concurrently, but we got the visuals in the can in November of 2015. In fact, a couple rotting pumpkins show up on frame for the astute observer. The rest of the process took the time it takes for any project to develop, especially exasperated by the fact that career responsibilities lay elsewhere.
I'll leave you here with CANYON if you haven't seen it or are just coming across this. My recommendations include a) headphones b) some quiet downtime c) fullscreen. Also, afterwards, check out this mini doc below with the incredible artist. ALI SABET, describing the process of creating the artwork for the whole project.