Wandering through Warm Dreams of Sansyou’s New Release

The first music video from Sansyou’s latest EP, True North Coast, titled “Will I Dream (Warm Rays Mix),” feels like a warm summer rain. A warm rain that beads on the skin and one might hope, never ends. It’s a track that fills the room with its salient bass and mood-evoking guitar riffs without being intrusive. Writer and guitarist David Nicholas shares, “The harder the world pushed aggression and noise, the more I resolved to write music that spoke softly and yet carried the power to restore my own balance; enough to keep moving forward. That search for calm and peace is reflected in the video and album artwork.”

Directed by Michael Benjamin Blank, who also plays the bass guitar, the brilliant music video co-stars model Miki Hamano and Remi Alde-Chester. Enjoy!

Michael Blank:

“This is definitely one of my favorite projects. When David asked me to shoot the album art with Miki, he asked me to simply do what I love to do. From the very beginning I realized David’s genius – finding things that fill his soul, and then he simply nurtures them into existence. He is a master manifester in this way. I loved the beachy album he was producing and I was inspired. I asked him if he’d be open to an experiment I wanted to try, a remix of his track ” Will I Dream “. I was delighted that he was open to it, but then my mind was blown when he decided to include it on the record as a special track!

Of course, we both agreed that it is only natural at this point in our collaboration – we had to create a music video. Immersing myself in David’s sun drenched guitar riffs, and mixing the sound waves into even warmer tones made it especially easy for me to create visuals for video.

“I asked myself “What is the real story behind the cover? Who is this creature on the beach? Why is she there?”

I do confess, It was a little daunting to come up with a storyline that would accompany the album and the album-art justly, but I felt that keeping it pure and simple would really personify the overall energy of the project. I asked myself “What is the real story behind the cover? Who is this creature on the beach? Why is she there?”. I also wanted it to fit the dream motif of the song, exploring the in-between of reality: Are these characters based off of real people or are they the fantasies we create about people? Does Miki’s character really disappear off into the sea or is it all a trick? Does Remi’s character really see what he thinks he sees or was the glare of the sun sparkling off the waves distorting his vision?

We ended up with so many beautiful images we now have a book we are creating. A mixture of behind the scenes and insights and overall beautiful captures of our production.

Thanks to David for dreaming up this project and facilitating the art in this world that allows us to expand and share our unique experiences, collectively.”

Miki Hamano:

“This music video is one of my favorite music videos I’ve ever done. I feel like I truly got to be myself the entire time we were filming. It gave me an opportunity to remember what it was like to be a child and how important it is to have a childlike mindset, to find a little happiness everywhere. This project was a great reminder for me to be more curious and spontaneous everyday! I see a beautiful connection between the album photos and the music video. The album photos are very atmospheric and moody, giving a glimpse into how the songs might sound, and the beautiful sunset visual in the music video enhances emotional feelings when you listen to the song.

“This project was a great reminder for me to be more curious and spontaneous everyday!”

I enjoyed creating both the album photos and the video equally! It was probably my 5th or 6th time working with Michael, so it felt like I was just hanging out with a friend on a beach. I was very excited when Michael told me that I was going to be a mermaid in the music video, and then also he revealed that I would have to jump in the freezing ocean! The water at California beaches is pretty cold all year, so I was hesitant at first, but after my first jump, the cold ocean water felt so good that all of my worries were gone instantly! I had never swam in the California coast until then, so this experience definitely made me get out of my comfort zone. I loved it and I’ll always remember this special day!

I’m very happy how the video and the album art turned out. I’ve always enjoyed collaborating with other artists because as a model, who often does commercial modeling, it’s a way for me to release my creative energy. I like the whole process of planning and doing a photo/video shoot with talented people, and I’d love to continue doing more in the future!”

Remi Alade-Chester:

“In preparation for this video, I had a collaborative conversation with Michael, to try and better understand what he wanted to convey, then trusting that during the shoot day I can bring about that essence. In terms of wardrobe and style, he left it up to me. We wanted something that felt futuristic and natural. The goal was to make it look timeless and other worldly, but relatively current since I try to pull from my archives of clothing for projects.

“We wanted something that felt futuristic and natural…”

We wanted to make it feel real and in the moment, almost as if one is capturing a snippet in time of someone’s day to day activities, while making the moment feel relatable for the viewer so they can flesh out the possibilities of the narrative from their experiences. I want to assume since there isn’t any vocals/dialogue in the music, there is more room for interpretation. I especially love the dream/fantasy like feel of it, even though it was shot at a local beach. I was pleasantly surprised how it all turned out actually, especially since Miki and I filmed our scenes on separate days, we never actually met! I had to trust that Michael had the storyboard down so as to get the shots to connect the pieces.”

David Nicholas:

“Everything in the video and photos are the visualization of the sound that I had in my head. What started as artwork for an album of instrumental music became an opportunity to take that idea farther.

When I wrote the music for True North Coast, the world seemed determined to pull itself apart in every way. I had to counteract this negativity. The harder the world pushed aggression and noise, the more I resolved to write music that spoke softly and yet carried the power to restore my own balance; enough to keep moving forward. That search for calm and peace is reflected in the video and album artwork.

“Everything in the video and photos are the visualization of the sound that I had in my head.”

Michael’s contributions on bass and remix opened a new canvas that completes the music in the video. At the same time, the images with Miki for the cover captured her ability to subtly convey introspection which enhances the music more than any lyric could deliver.”