Earlier this month, atmospheric UK producer Bibio released his ninth studio album, Phantom Brickworks. Today he’s sharing the video for “Capel Celyn,” one of the record’s most crucial tracks. You can watch it above.
The eight-minute song takes its name from a Welsh town in North Wales that was flooded in 1965 to serve as a reservoir to supply water to the industry in Liverpool and other neighboring towns. The video for the song is imbued with a sense of loss and emptiness as it trails its way through the remains of the town, both above ground and underwater. The camera doesn’t move so much as it hovers through the ruins, taking cues from the distant, floating melody in the song.
Compiled over a ten year period, the intention of “Capel Celyn” and the other tracks from Phantom Brickworks from the outset was to evoke a strong sense of place. In a statement about the project and its concept, Bibio said:
“I don’t believe in ghosts but I do believe places can be haunted by meaning. Places change, not always for the better and not always by natural, benevolent or politically sound means. A place can be charged with atmosphere because of what it has been through or what it has been.”
Phantom Brickworks is out now on Warp Records.
