Big Black Delta Share "Summoner" Video Via Under The Radar

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"The video is a haunting assemblage of vignettes that mimic found-footage or a homemade piece of film that documents a phantasmal journey to the desert before exploding into a occult ceremony replete with choreography, and giant laughing faces in the sky. The track itself fuses the buoyancy of techno-pop with blurry artifacts and plenty of grime, creating hooks from chaos."
-Under The Radar

Big Black Delta have shared the video for their latest single, "Summoner." The video premiered exclusively with Under The Radar. The stunning visual slowly builds as a haunting trio move in fluid motion. "Summoner" quickly shifts and erupts into a fast-paced electronic sound that is matched with an enamoring choreography.

On the track and video Jonathan Bates of Big Black Delta describes its inspiration. “It's a bit foggy, but I remember drunkenly watching Flight Of The Navigator one morning and I wanted to make a song that made me feel what I felt at that moment. I’d been up since 1am drinking. The sun was coming up. It was super orange because booze does that to my eye sight. The movie provided the nostalgia and the feeling of flying (when the protagonist figures out how to fly the spaceship.) That's why that woozy synth comes in and out in the chorus. At the same time, it was medieval and witchy sounding. Like something you would play to summon a demon. Or daemon depending on how thick your neck beard is.

Nina Mcneely (CLIMAX) is my favorite choreographer and dancer. Warren Kommers is light years in the future when it comes to the art of the moving picture and what goes into it. I was lucky enough to get into a room with these two after I finished the latest Big Black Delta record. Whenever the three of us convene on a project, it always ends up in another dimension. As we were working on what originally was going to be a dance video where Nina just rips, Warren began developing a narrative and computer technique to make this one of the most frightening things I've ever seen, let alone be a part of. After a lot of trial and error, and Warren essentially hot-rodding current laptop technology, we ended up with something we’re all incredibly stoked on."

"It took me two seconds to say yes when long time collaborators Big Black Delta and Warren Kommers asked me to be a part of the Summoner film. The track and the concept took us on a choreographic exploration into possession, visceral ritual and the terrifying powers of monstrous femininity." – Nina McNeely

About

In Jonathan Bates' decade of developing widescreen ideas in Big Black Delta, one fact has been irrefutable.

"All of us suffer from the same insecurities," says the Venezuelan singer/multi-instrumentalist. "All of us. Successful, not successful; none of us knows what we're doing. The real shit is in lowering one's defenses, so music can flow out freely and imperfectly."

Weathering the twists and turns of this mortal coil ain't easy. It's a constant battle, something you have to work on and respond to regularly without losing sight of what's really important.

Bates found this out the hard way four years ago, when his father/best friend died and bad news became a daily occurrence — loss as a way of life. "I just cracked," he explains. "I was engaged to be married, but that relationship ended partially because I was drinking a bottle and a half of Jameson a day. I'm naturally a skinny guy, but I ended up looking like the alien in Mac and Me. Honestly, I just wanted to die for about three years straight."

The longtime Mellowdrone frontman/M83 collaborator is quick to clarify he's not kidding. There came a point in the past four years where Bates felt he'd either have to fix his situation or end it. And the only way he was gonna move forward — healthier and happier than he'd ever been — was by giving up drinking entirely, DTs be damned.

"I was chemically dependent on alcohol," explains Bates. "If I didn't get lit, I would shake uncontrollably and couldn't speak correctly. I should have been on Benzos but didn't have health insurance, so I did it American-style. I later realized my father and his father once had the same problem."

With a close friend (Cyrus Makarechian of the LA band Black Line) willing to let him detox in a safe, private space, Bates put his creative pursuits on hold and "went to a therapist who helped save my life. She insisted that happiness — not bliss — and resilience exist. And she was right; I found a new version of gratefulness I had never physically experienced before and finally learned how to be kind to myself."

Part of that healing process meant scrapping an entire solo effort Bates had recorded during his darkest period. Mostly because he wants Big Black Delta to help other people find hope, not encourage a never-ending cycle of negativity and pain.

"I can’t stay in one 'genre' because that makes life impossibly boring. I'd rather be honest with myself, and if that can be of service to you, then I'm happy as a pig in shit."

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