These days with so much going on and access to information being technically limitless, me remembering the name of a band I personally don’t have any sort of relationship with is a big deal. This is what happened when I saw that we were premiering the new Ground Patrol video. While we do have a nice relationship with them as a site, I hadn’t firmly connected with them much aside from listening to Geophone five-ish years ago and yet they’re a name that sticks with me. Why is that?
It’s likely because the New York experimental jazz duo have always maintained an essence of artistry that’s incredibly alluring. Even if you don’t like the music itself, I’d wager it’s hard to turn off because of its phenomenal texturing that doesn’t overstimulate – you wanna see where it goes no matter what. Well, today you actually do get to see it as we’re premiering the new video for “Lift”, taken from their upcoming album Converge which drops on February 6 via Art As Catharsis.
The video is created by Casta Zhu, a multimedia artist also based in New York who has a widespread knowledge and bag of tools (not to mention exhibition accolades like SXSW, BFI London Film Festival, and Camden International Film Festival) at her disposal. She seemed a natural fit for Ground Patrol‘s evocative music after guitarist Kyle Sanna saw her perform as a live visual artist, so him and percussionist Alon Ilsar cut the track into thirds and associated words with each part to help guide the vibes. Sanna expands:
‘Casta eventually honed in on nature imagery and a progression from water to flight for the first section. For the second section she takes us into an abstract visual language of shapes before landing on desolate landscapes featuring monoliths and withered trees. The final section plays with time (a Ground Patrol favorite), smashing, inverting, and generally disrupting symbols of timekeeping.’
Zhu’s use of shapes and pairing them with nature helps color in “Lift”, an already expressive and vibrant track with saxophone and flute accents both courtesy of Peter Apfelbaum. My favorite is mimicking the very complex and beautifully flowing geometry of birds in flight over vast waters with similarly-formed shapes and structures to help exacerbate that natural beauty, and perhaps comment on how all human-made art is one way or another in debt to nature itself. Whether you believe it to be divine creation, scientific marvel, or an arcane order of things we can’t hope to fully understand, there’s no question how the world we live in influences so much of what we do.
“Lift” was already a wonderful standalone single for Converge, but Casta Zhu‘s video is complementary in ways many bands hope to have visual artists convey. It once again speaks to Ground Patrol‘s artistry, but also their ability to synergize with other like-minded artists who see (and hear) what they’re about. This is why they’ll likely always be a name my ears will perk up for upon mention. You can preorder Converge as well as listen to its other single “Fall” on Bandcamp. Check out their site for more information or follow on Facebook.
