‘Human’ is the first single from London-based artist Anil Sebastian’s debut album ‘Mesonoxian’, due for release on Relative State Records, September 2016.

Produced by Anil, his brother Ingmar and Jon Hopkins collaborator Cherif Hashizume, ‘Mesonoxian’ (which means “pertaining to the hour of midnight”) is an interplay between intimacy and expanse. Intricate Arca-esque microbeats, soaring raga-tinged strings and choral motifs provide a beautifully dark backdrop to Anil’s utterly unique voice.

Get lost in the video for ‘Human’ below, and check out the premiere on The Line Of Best Fit.

The track itself, accompanied by a haunting animated video directed by Casual Psychotic – intertwines brooding synth arrangements, intricate glockenspiel work, and high-reaching string lines to incomparable effect. The standout feature of the track, could arguably be Anil’s stunning multi-octave vocal display, tying everything together with beautiful ease and control – not surprising – with the knowledge that Anil himself is the founder, and leader of the London Contemporary Voices choir.

The video for ‘Human’ is the first of a two-part video series, entitled ‘Hiraeth’ – with the second part to follow later this summer.

“Human life is a perplexing clusterfuck,” says Anil. “I remember watching the stars from my window when I was 8 or so wanting to Jack-and-the-beanstalk myself off the planet, to begin again. If we could leave and start again, would we fail in the same ways again? Hiraeth is a welsh word that describes the feeling I had – a homesick grief for something that no longer exists (or in this case probably never did). We are tiny in the universe but look to space, the cold desolate void that surrounds us, as an expanse of hope and the future. Human is about all of these things.”

It’s certainly a fascinating approach to songwriting, with a dark, and intense lyrical depth. The musicality of the song itself, is expansive, at times harrowing, but ultimately daring, and wonderfully inventive.

“I wrote ‘Human’ with my friend Andrew R Bird in his flat,” explains Anil. “It started with some beautiful glockenspiel loops Andy played (he’s an amazing percussionist). There was no blue in the sky, just impenetrable grey – the kind that makes your eyes go funny. When London’s like that, it’s easy to forget that the huge black void of space and all its stars is still there just beyond it. Human starts in that dark, claustrophobic place but by the end there’s a playful acceptance – we’re in a massive unknowable void and so we may as well dance. After all, we’re only human. We don’t always have to try and be more.”

Casual Psychotic – who directed and animated the stunning video for ‘Human’ had this to say on his work with Anil: “It was a joy making the video for ‘Human’ & ‘Living’. Me and Anil thought it would be a cool idea to build a world around the two tracks. I guess in a way the man on the moon (in the videos) is a bit like any artist, you build a strange inner universe, it gets out of your control and by its very projection it pushes you out in to a vacuum in which you just float for a bit before finding another planet or in most non astral travelling circumstances another idea, song, image or whatever it is you do. The tracks were really nice to work with and it was a pleasure building the animation.”

Anil Sebastian’s debut album, ‘Mesonoxian’ is out September, 2016.

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