secant - Out 6/10/22
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The Song
The debut release as a solo artist by Lanier Sammons, “secant” grows from a gritty, cello-and-piano intro to a hazy, evolving texture with a wavering trumpet pad, an unreliable drum machine, and other voices emerging and receding. Sammons’s sparse, processed vocals hint at loss and transformation in a structure that eschews traditional song form.
The track was composed, performed, and engineered by Sammons out of his home studio in Monterey, CA. -
The Video
Created entirely by Timothy David Orme, the half hand-painted, half digitally animated video matches the song’s uneasy mood. Glimpses of a narrative emerge as a mysterious cycloptic figure traverses a haunting landscape.
The video marks a third collaboration for Orme and Sammons with Orme’s films Drawing the Perfect Brain and fulcrum including Sammons’s scores and sound design.
The Creators
Lanier Sammons
Lanier Sammons composes for film and for the concert hall in addition to writing songs, and he has engineered and/or produced for a wide range of artists (Giacomo Fiore, Bitter Party, Post-Haste Reed Duo).
As a performer, he got his start as lead guitarist for Seven Bridges in his home town of Macon, Georgia before playing with bands in New York. Relocating to Charlottesville, Virginia to pursue a Ph.D. in composition, Lanier joined Dzian!, playing Southeast Asian surf and garage rock. Another move to Santa Cruz and then Monterey in California found him as a member of the Zimbabwean marimba ensemble Sadza and their Afro-pop incarnation SadzaMoto.
Lanier teaches as an Associate Professor of Recording & Technology at California State University, Monterey Bay.
Timothy David Orme
Timothy David Orme is a writer, filmmaker, and animator. His short films and animations spanning nearly every genre (experimental, narrative, music video, and documentary) have been shown at film festivals and art venues all over the world, including European Media Arts Fest, Jihalva International Documentary Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Philadelphia Film and Animation Festival, Raindance, and the National Gallery of Art among others. His film most recent film, fulcrum was a juried film at the 2022 Thomas Edison Film Festival, and won best animation at the 2022 Dam Short Film Festival and the Arizona International Film Festival.
