French-Ecuadorian producer Nicola Cruz kicked off 2019 with with the release of his latest full-length, Siku, on which he expanded his already rich sonic palette. On this project, he adds folkloric sounds from across the globe to his library of organic South American instruments. His new single “Obsidiana” is a great example; here, an arsenal of drums interacts with a club-ready beat while sitar strings sizzle in our ears, making us travel in a hundred different directions at the same time.
“Obsidiana” now has a video, courtesy of Ecuadorian filmmaker Camilo Coba Riofrío, who previously worked with Cruz on his striking “Colibría” video. The visuals include time-lapsed found footage of all kinds of natural elements which are presented in surreal ways; cloudy skies, fire, and tidal waves seem as though they’re taken out of a dream.
Coba Riofrío took inspiration from the obsidian stone and his own journey. “Obsidian is compressed darkness; darkness that once was fire and intense light, which now is stone, which now is earth. It is the journey from the beginning of everything to this precise moment, here and now,” he says. “That was how this synergy came about: darkness, then vibrating waves that are sound; sounds that interact with each other to become music, music that in the darkness of my closed eyes became imagination, imagination that became image, image that is light, and light that, in the end, is vibrating waves.”
Cruz just announced his upcoming U.S. tour, which includes a stop in New York to play at Knockdown Center in Queens, his largest show in the city to date, organized by the crew at PopGun Presents. Check out all of the dates below.
5/9/19 – Miami, FL – The Ground
5/10/19 – Queens, NY – Knockdown Center
5/12/19 – Mayer, AZ – FORM Arcosanti
5/15/19 – Seattle, WA – Nectar Lounge
5/17/19 – San Francisco, CA – Public Works
5/18/19 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex
Siku is out now on ZZK Records.