Def Sonic’s evocative music video for “Zephyr” unsettles with grace

The ambient-folk project addresses ethnic cleansing with a heavy heart and an abundance of empathy.

“Show me why,” intones Def Sonic bandleader Johan Petty in “Zephyr,” a strikingly sorrowful track from the project’s latest album, For The Rest Of Forever. Released on March 20—just two days prior to the album’s release—the music video for “Zephyr” was posted to Instagram with the caption “In solidarity,” along with hashtags reading “#freepalestine” and “#endgenocide.” Taking things a step further, the video makes its intention unmistakably clear with an introductory slide that provides the literal definition of ethnic cleansing above static text that reads “STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING.”

Arresting enough on its own, the moment becomes more profound when married to the context provided by For The Rest Of Forever. One short track, “[.method],” uses spoken-word dialogue to lay out the album’s modus operandi: “Empathy is grace. Being is the way. Expression is a natural sense.” Grace, empathy, and commitment to humanism all factor into “Zephyr” and the album as a whole. Def Sonic’s music continues to exude an empathetic warmth, though its target is often more generalized than specific, allowing for the combination of what “[.method]” so plainly marks out as the central forces of Def Sonic’s artistic identity.

“Zephyr” registers as both general and specific, as the video greets another inescapably dark chapter in world history. The music video is positioned as a heavy-hearted response to Israel’s continuation of a systemic, intentional demolition of Palestine’s population, aided by the unapologetic support of the United States and the vast majority of its political and institutional leaders (on both sides of the aisle).

While it’d be immensely difficult to prove the utility of art in meaningfully changing the outcome of global atrocity (though it can certainly aid in substantively reactive efforts), there is endless value in wielding it as a tool of protest. Of hope. Of solidarity. And as a means to process events that are unfathomably tragic or evil. Comfort is an implicit value that carries weight as a necessary respite in the face of overwhelming cruelty. And with “Zephyr,” Def Sonic takes stock of Palestinians’ humanity as they fight to survive an ethnic cleansing. In doing so, “Zephyr” further reflects on the totality of loss that has come at the hands of other ethnic cleansings throughout history.    

Tender and heartbreaking, the video Petty has put together makes exceptional use of an effects palette that is quickly becoming a signature of Def Sonic’s videography. Soft color grading, subjects and environments accentuated with artificial lens flare effects, an overall hazy, lo-fi aesthetic, and intentionally soft focus combine to create something that feels ethereal and impressionistic. Used most prominently in previous videos for the songs “Poor Dorothy,” “Aquanova,” and “Anthropia,” the formula feels refined, and even pointed, in its implementation across “Zephyr.” Here, the combination of dreamlike effects manage to communicate a sense of immediate, intrinsically human connection as well as a sense of removal; a foggy memory resisting total recollection.

But what makes “Zephyr” so powerful isn’t the combination of effects, it’s what those effects emphasize. A series of quietly startling, dreamlike vignettes make up the video’s bulk, beginning with a shot of a woman staring into the camera as tears streak down from her eyes. A number of people are shown in various states of pained, isolated contemplation, prayer, or in familial gathering. The video strengthens its impact by focusing on the subjects’ individuality. As a society, we often have a tendency to compartmentalize mass tragedies as singular events that took place over a moment in time without reflecting on interior lives and relationships of the people affected. Here, that luxury is discarded by way of a potent reminder of that interiority and the monumentally callous nature of genocide.

“Zephyr” is a mournful work that depicts moments both mundane and sacred to illustrate the profundity of the lives being lost in the ongoing genocide. A genuine sense of mourning permeates each frame, demanding viewers’ attention as it pulls at their heartstrings. There is a desperation in the implicit communion provided by “Zephyr,” which further stresses the urgency of the caption and hashtags that arrived with the video.

Solidarity.
Free palestine.
End genocide.

Def Sonic’s For The Rest Of Forever can be streamed below. 

Def Sonic will be taking part in Outer-Inner, a collaborative multimedia performance that takes place at Arts + Literature Laboratory on Wednesday, April 24, at 7 p.m., as part of Mills Folly Microcinema. Additionally, the project will be playing Over At The Studio—Kenosha native Kena Allen’s update on the legendary Smart Studios space—on Friday, May 24 with Free Dirt and Andrew Fitzpatrick.