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Flying Lotus Resurrects the Dead in Short Film ‘Until the Quiet Comes’

The upcoming Flying Lotus album Until the Quiet Comes plays like a space-dust-sprinkled dream, but the Los Angeles beat genius’ new “Until the Quiet Comes” short film paints a much darker picture. Directed by Kahlil Joseph, the gorgeous clip was shot on 35 mm in the Nickerson Gardens project in Watts and features three songs from the new LP.

The first voice we hear is Erykah Badu’s — “dream of love and light and laughter,” via “See Thru To U” — and it accompanies footage of a small boy who is mysteriously shot in the bottom of a dry pool. The river of blood that pours forth is both beautiful and horrifying. The rest of the piece is like that — it holds you hostage through a series of engrossing images, leading to the most indelible of all.

Lotus himself makes a brief cameo from the back of a low-rider, and seems to play the role of grim reaper, guardian angel, or voodoo practitioner. A second boy who’s been shot raises from dead and does a macabre ballet before climbing into the hotrod and leaving by the spinning light of a pair of ambulances. The dead dancer (played by Storyboard P) is wearing a shirt that says “J Dilla Changed My Life.”

It’s that rare music promo that at a mere 3:50 actually feels like a significant piece of work. And, you know, it’s nice to hear a little more from the album. Also featured are parts of “Hunger” and “Getting There,” two songs featuring the hypnotically drifting vocals of L.A. electronic chanteuse Niki Randa. From Flying Lotus’ twitter: “that ambulance and helicopter just happened to be there. shit was active. It still goes down in the nicks.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-pVHC1DXQ7U%3Fversion%3D3