smallsongs — Young the Giant
Smallsongs is a music video series featuring small & stripped down performances on the streets of different cities around the world.
A few months back Eric Cannata flew to Denver the night before a show at Red Rocks Ampitheatre. We met up after dark at Cheesman Park. This park used to be a cemetery. There’s a lit up structure there that I wanted to film at. But some skateboarders & dancers & bikers & a loud speaker claimed the spot.
We walked across the field to film beneath some light. Eric sat there on the curb with a nice tree as the backdrop, even though that’s not really visible with this 200T stock of super 8 film. But this was the best lighting that we could find on a dark & chilly night. The old film grain really stands out here.
He played one of my absolute favorite songs in recent memory off his solo EP Lonely Beast. This song is also titled “Lonely Beast.” It’s just under 3 minutes so it was fitting because I only had about 3 minutes of film to work with. He then let me listen to an amazing snippet of some new old timey Roy Orbison inspired music that he’s working on. Afterwards I drove him to meet back to his bandmates. The following night I filmed Eric on stage headlining Red Rocks with Young the Giant. But first here’s that acoustic super 8 shoot in the haunted park:
Shortly after playing a couple tunes in the dark, Eric asked me if I’d like to film Young the Giant on Super 8 film at Red Rocks. I think he assumed that I had access to more film on short notice. I lied and said that I did because I wasn’t going to miss out on this opportunity.
Normally I order the film online because I didn’t think there was anywhere to get it in person in Denver. But the next day I called around and found a place that did! I bought a roll of TRI-X Reversal film from him and drove to Red Rocks. I picked up my older brother Justin and asked him to help me shoot the concert. We were to focus on the 8th song in the set, “The Walk Home,” one of many incredible songs off the 4 part new record from Young the Giant. They arrived on stage & I’ll just let the video speak for itself!
This video marked a bit of a turning point for smallsongs to further focus on quality instead of quantity. There’s also a different energy that comes with shooting concerts. With videos like this I’ve now got the opportunity to film grander performances featuring new genres of music that acoustic shoots can’t always capture in full. I’ll still be filming and sharing those small & stripped performances, but now there’s a new growth in what’s to come. I‘m just pushing myself to continually be creatively inspired with the hope that this inspiration translates to your eyes.
So stay tuned for more videos & some more exciting news on the horizon. Also it would mean so much if you become a smallsongs patron at:
https://www.patreon.com/smallsongs?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator
Find more editions of smallsongs, starting here: smallsongs: Esther Rose