Komorebi no Kisetsu

Описание: 木洩陽の季節 (Komorebi no Kisetsu) is an visual-media art piece, set to the song from which it borrows its name, by the Japanese indie band Lamp (ランプ).

It sings the reprise of monotony within quiet everyday moments, underscored by tepid weather foreshadowing something to come. Square-framed videoclips stitched together to the river of music provided by Lamp evoke the twist and turns of a jeep, driving along these same suburban residential streets, whimsically pondering at life going by through a half-open window, buffeted by plain, unfeeling wind.

The energy with which the crash cuts find themselves accompanied by the music contrasts sharply, and jarringly, with the gentle monotony of the atmosphere, providing us with the great contradiction inherent within the piece. To be still, or to move? To move, or to be still? Can one do both? Can one do neither? Under the weight of these contradictions, the video-framing could not bear to not be square.

Delightfully teasing cognitive faculties of the brain is the editing, as the audience's eyes and hears possibly - it is thought - struggle to perceive the switching of frames through crash cuts as "in time" with the musical changes underneath - provoking questioning of our own senses. "Holding, as t'were, the mirror to nature" is 'Komorebi' - are the contradictions inherent in the atmosphere of energy/monotony, or is the contradiction inherent in our visual/audio perception, or are these contradictions, inherently contradictory? 'Komorebi' does not seek to answer any of the problems it posits, it merely posits them, positionally, positivistically, post-haste. Purportedly, at least.

As for the shocking ending of 'Komorebi', the artist wishes to make no comment. The ending is to you what it is to the piece, and it is to the piece what it is to you, and your individual perceptions. Influenced by the works of J. Peele (Get Out, Us, "Key and Peele"), the 'punchline' to the piece walks the line between horror and comedy. As our worldly boundaries melt away, what will be left but the mirror that faces us? 'Komorebi', again, unflinchingly provides no comfort, no respite, no resolution to these shocking findings.

Thank you for watching.