CIVIC TV is the brainchild of Toronto singer-songwriter Lowell Sostomi and the latest act to sign to Flemish Eye, through which he'll be delivering his debut album black moon on October 22. Today, he's shared the title track and a video to match.
Sostomi is a staple of the Toronto indie scene, having previously played in Great Bloomers and toured with Wooden Sky. His claustrophobic, post-apocalyptic debut is the result of recordings done predominantly during the city's lockdown and his experimentation with "darker, uglier" soundscapes.
Sostomi said in a statement:
During the long lockdown in Toronto, I spent a lot of summer nights wandering around alone in the empty streets. Sometimes I would walk for hours and not see a single person; it really felt like I was the only living person in the city. I started feeling a strong paganistic connection to the moon — it was almost like a combination of awe and companionship. I would often revisit the work I had done in the studio that day in this creepy environment and if it accentuated my mood/surroundings, then I knew I was onto something. The song "black moon" probably encapsulates that feeling the most accurately, which is why I decided to make it the album title as well.
The eerie visual accompaniment to the sombre track reflects exactly what the musician described; obviously shot in black and white, the Cam Hunter-directed clip sees Sostomi skulking along the night streets. Eventually, he wakes up on a foggy beach, surrounded by a bunch of his (presumably dead?) doppelgängers strewn about on the sand.
Creepy indeed.
Watch the video for "black moon" and check out the album's tracklisting below.
black moon:
1. prime time
2. positive affirmations
3. 3-1-1
4. black moon
5. local talent
6. flesh is fiction
7. anatomy of boredom
8. clean
9. true defeat
10. numb
Sostomi is a staple of the Toronto indie scene, having previously played in Great Bloomers and toured with Wooden Sky. His claustrophobic, post-apocalyptic debut is the result of recordings done predominantly during the city's lockdown and his experimentation with "darker, uglier" soundscapes.
Sostomi said in a statement:
During the long lockdown in Toronto, I spent a lot of summer nights wandering around alone in the empty streets. Sometimes I would walk for hours and not see a single person; it really felt like I was the only living person in the city. I started feeling a strong paganistic connection to the moon — it was almost like a combination of awe and companionship. I would often revisit the work I had done in the studio that day in this creepy environment and if it accentuated my mood/surroundings, then I knew I was onto something. The song "black moon" probably encapsulates that feeling the most accurately, which is why I decided to make it the album title as well.
The eerie visual accompaniment to the sombre track reflects exactly what the musician described; obviously shot in black and white, the Cam Hunter-directed clip sees Sostomi skulking along the night streets. Eventually, he wakes up on a foggy beach, surrounded by a bunch of his (presumably dead?) doppelgängers strewn about on the sand.
Creepy indeed.
Watch the video for "black moon" and check out the album's tracklisting below.
black moon:
1. prime time
2. positive affirmations
3. 3-1-1
4. black moon
5. local talent
6. flesh is fiction
7. anatomy of boredom
8. clean
9. true defeat
10. numb
