It鈥檚 a big day for Surrey鈥檚 Stephano Barberis, the award-winning music video director, who has turned his attention to making music 鈥� at least for the time being.
The Cloverdale-area resident is recognized nationally for crafting videos for a multitude of musicians in the country genre.
On Friday (May 18), Barberis released an album of new electronic-pop music under the name Breathe of My Leaves. The 13-song album, called Chimera, is available on and .
Songs from the album are featured in 叠补谤产别谤颈蝉鈥� latest 鈥渄irector鈥檚 reel,鈥� a compilation of images from recent videos he鈥檚 made for other artists. The reel was also released Friday.
In a Now-Leader exclusive, the eight-minute 鈥淧hantasmagoria鈥� reel can be seen and heard below.
The reel can also be seen on .
叠补谤产别谤颈蝉鈥� Chimera album is filled with inspired, hyper electronica sounds 鈥� instrumentals, mostly 鈥� that reveal his passion for synth-pop bands, including Erasure. Tracks from the album include the opener 鈥淕lowing Pacific,鈥� 鈥淟ove You Lately鈥� (featuring vocals by Jordan Grant), 鈥淒ancing With My Hallucinations,鈥� the intriguingly titled 鈥淥oh Ooh (Coconuts from Nunavut)鈥� and the melody-layered closer 鈥淒rink The Moonlight And Fly.鈥�
Chimera is 叠补谤产别谤颈蝉鈥� second album under his Breathe of My Leaves moniker.
His new director鈥檚 reel, meanwhile, is the fourth of his career.
鈥� RELATED: , from 2015.
鈥淓very once in a blue moon I do something extremely important to me 鈥� I release a new director鈥檚 reel,鈥� Barberis wrote in a recent Facebook post. 鈥淭here have been four in my career 鈥� 2005, 2009, 2011, and 2014. This Friday, I am releasing my fifth 鈥� 鈥楶hantasmagoria鈥� 鈥� and it鈥檚 a very emotional and celebratory occasion for me.鈥�
With his own music as a soundtrack for the reel, 鈥渂asically, it鈥檒l be 100% me in music and in visuals,鈥� he wrote.
鈥淭he Stephanoverse is glowing bright with activity in this period and I hope you will all be here with me, as I鈥檝e been so fortunate to have your love and support all these years. I am so grateful. I dream, I create, and I hope I move you emotionally and inspire you at least to make your lives a more entertaining, magical, and better place, even just a little.鈥�
鈥� RELATED: , from 2017.
Barberis grew up in a Greek-Canadian household in Kitimat before moving south to the Metro Vancouver area to get his start in directing music videos. Over the past two decades, he鈥檚 made more than 170 videos for songs by Dallas Smith, Aaron Pritchett, Chad Brownlee, Karen Lee Batten, Doc Walker and many other country artists.
鈥淚 started 20 years ago,鈥� he recounted in . 鈥淭he very first music video was directed on the day [Princess] Diana died and I wasn鈥檛 even supposed to be doing that. I went to university for a few years to be an urban planner.鈥�
Over the years, Barberis has become the most highly decorated music-video director in Canadian history, with dozens of provincial and national awards for his work. By 2016, his videos had amassed millions of YouTube views, more than 60 official top-20 video hits and 32 directorial and video awards out of 72 nominations.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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