VIDEO: Nathan Leigh Shares New 'No Poetry feat. Noie' Remix Visual

After a busy 2021 that saw the release of their House On Stilts visual EP and "Pirkei Avot" music video and video game, Nathan Leigh & The Crisis Actors show no signs of slowing down in the new year. They have announced their forthcoming remix album All Myths Are Remixes, out January 28th, 2022. Additionally fans can check out the lead single and music video "No Poetry feat. Noie" now.

"'No Poetry' came out of feeling frustrated with the ways people romanticize struggle. Especially as artists, sometimes there's this idea that without suffering your art has no meaning and conversely that having suffered gives your art inherent meaning-or worse, financial value," shares Leigh.

"The stories we tell ourselves about how our struggles made us stronger are necessary because they help us cope with trauma, but that doesn't mean trauma is ever a good thing. The song is me saying just having survived is enough. It doesn't need to be more than that. The album version is a duet between me and longtime bandmate Noie. For the remix, I really wanted to showcase her contributions, so the vocals are all performed by her and my bassist Corey. It's a weird feeling when muting your own parts improves a song, but here we are."

He continues: "Like a lot of folks I got really into gardening over the pandemic. The process of watching things grow was a very hopeful and therapeutic thing. My ability to envision a future was directly tied to the growth of my plants. Documenting their daily growth turned into taking timelapses of their growth. The video is all about hope, injecting some color into the world, and the ways that as queer people we're always tasked with engaging with how we present to the world and whose gaze we're seeking and whose gaze we're avoiding. The constant question of how do you want to be seen and by whom? The use of makeup and color to invent yourself and take control of your narrative. I played around a lot with perspective and gaze in the video to try to reflect that, and even built two cameras myself from scratch to do some of the effects."

In addition to the single Leigh has today debut the "Remix-O-Tron," a brand new interactive experience that allows users to create their own "No Poetry" remix. Fans can check it out here.

On the "Remix-O-Tron," Leigh explains: "All art is a remix. The joy of a remix is when you experience something you're familiar with from a new angle and are surprised that it still works, maybe even better than the way you're used to. I wanted to create something that would let a listener be a participant in the act of creation and still be able to be surprised by their own creation. The Remix-O-Tron is designed to let a listener play with controls that react in unexpected ways to create an experience that's entirely unique to them. Eventually I plan to build up a process where people can share their remixes as well."

Nathan Leigh is a composer, writer, animator, and activist. He has composed music and designed sound for over 300 plays at theatres across the country including American Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Cherry Lane Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group, The Debate Society (Gothamist: Best Sound Design 2007 for The Eaten Heart), Stoneham Theatre (IRNE Best Sound Design 2009 for Strangers On A Train), Central Square Theatre (IRNE Best Sound Design 2010 for The Hound of the Baskervilles), and many more.

Watch the new music video here:

To post a comment, you must register and login.