Until the Quiet Comes

by: Joseph Johnson

Sometimes less is more. At others, more is more. Flying Lotus strikes a perfect balance between giving away nothing and giving away everything in his new short film, directed by Kahlil Joseph. Acting as a teaser for his forthcoming album of the same name, Until The Quiet Comes features excerpts from three tracks to get listeners excited and ready for the release.

The film tells the story of a shooting in the Nickerson Gardens housing projects in Los Angeles. The bleakness of the storyline is juxtaposed with beautiful cinematography and the interpretive way in which the narrative unfolds. As with Flying Lotus’ musical compositions, this short has familiar elements, but is at the same time fresh and unexpected. Rather than pondering the sombre, played out imagery we’re used to, the film shows scenes of sun-kissed backyards and uses children to symbolise the innocence that we’re all born with, which can be so devastatingly eroded by the environments we grow up in. Hip-hop videos often display images of the “hood,” but rarely are those fearsome territories represented in such a cinematic way. The almost out-of-body experience of the protagonist is wonderfully choreographed and works fantastically with the Fly-Lo sounds.

Flying Lotus fans have come to expect great things and this will undoubtedly satisfy them, while leaving them counting the days until his album release. As far as marketing goes, this is pretty genius.