French electronic music producer Thylacine (IG: thylacine_music) recently partnered with filmmaker Cécile Chabert to create a musical short inspired by the Nama people of Namibia.
Shark Island was recorded and shot over the course of three months, with the creatives visiting the island and its people.
Shark Island is part of Namibia, and is where the Germans set up a concentration camp in the early 1900s. Herero and Nama people were killed during that time, and survivors were used as forced labor, which included building a local German church in which the track was recorded.
Thylacine worked with the Luderitz Rogate Koor singers, recording their vocals, which are a foundational element of the atmospheric piece. Chabert directed the visuals, capturing footage with a Sony Alpha S3 camera. In addition to the church recording sessions, the video also shows the local culture and traditions that take place among an arid landscape.
According to Thylacine, a Neumann KU100 binaural mic was used for all the group recordings.
"It helps me capture something very close to reality, with a natural spatialization," he shares. "For the ambient sounds, I mostly used a pair of Sennheiser MKH8090s. In the caravan, in addition to my saxophones, I had a Vermona PerFourmer MKII and a Vongon Replay synth, and I worked in Ableton Live."
Chabert opted for the Alpha S3 camera, thanks to its lightweight.
The Shark Island track blends electronica, ambient textures, organic percussion and traditional Nama chants, and was recorded on the island. The video was later edited by Zoe Sassier and color graded by Maxime Mourey.