When guitarist Michael Capps passed away suddenly last year, vocalist Haseena Peera lost not only one of her closest friends and confidants, but also her band and chief creative outlet, Surrogates. Consumed by grief, she decided almost immediately to pour herself into music to help exorcise the pain and trauma. One of the last conversations Capps and Peera had as artistic collaborators was about the possibility of combining their talents with the then instrumental trio Cinema Novo. Both groups, after all, shared an affinity for textured, dynamic rock with a technical bent, a style perfectly suited to Peera’s dramatic vocals. So they joined together and started writing.
The now foursome have spent the last year working on a new anthology broken into seven parts. Called Seven Headed Lion, the stories address the struggles and conflicts of modern society as told through the eyes of mythological creatures. “Horse Eater” makes up the first part in the series, which, according to the group’s press release, “weaves the themes of addiction and denial into the tale of a deformed giant exiled from a rural village.” Fans who attended their single release show at Star Bar on Thursday got an opportunity to see the first ever screening of the accompanying video, and now we’re excited to bring you the online premiere.
Filmed in stark black and white, the video focuses on the inebriated experience of a single concert-goer who attends one of the band’s shows. It’s a vivid depiction of a guy we all either know personally or have seen at a club — the compulsive drinker who pounds far too many beers, is too loud and rowdy, throws up in the bathroom, takes off his shirt, and basically annoys everyone and invades their space until he gets tossed out by the bouncer and has to sleep it off in his car. It’s a tough watch; not so much because of the subject matter, but because of the accuracy of the depiction. The blurred vision, the stumbling and groping about, the brief flashes of clarity, the feelings of elation followed by crippling nausea—it’s all there in graphic detail accompanied by Cinema Novo’s thrilling, white-knuckle soundtrack.
More Info
Web: cinemanovomusic.com
Bandcamp: cinemanovo.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @cinemanovoatl
Instagram: @cinemanovo
SoundCloud: @cinema-novo