Oblivion’s Nick Vasallo Rocks Out with Shelley

Oblivion’s Nick Vassallo — who, in case you didn’t know, is like a musical genius n’ shit — has unveiled his latest composition via No Clean Singing: it’s called “Ozymandias,” and, yes, it was inspired by Shelley’s sonnett (although I’m guessing there are gonna be people who think it’s about Watchmen). Here are some additional background details, courtesy of NCS:

“The music is performed by two Bay Area groups working together — the guitar-and-drum duo known as The Living Earth Show (Travis Andrews and Andrew Meyerson), and Friction Quartet (violinists Otis Harriel and Kevin Rogers; Taija Warbelow on viola; and cellist Doug Machiz). Emily Orum plays the singing bowls.

“The video is a combination of footage of these two groups performing the composition outdoors near the shores of the San Francisco Bay (filmed by Taylor Joshua Rankin) and an award-winning 2012 short film named Elefante, written and directed by Pablo Larcuen. Vasallo saw thematic similarities between Shelley’s poem and Elefante, and although they may not be apparent at first blush, there’s no question that the story told in the film and the music fit together like hand and glove.”

Check out “Ozymandias” below, then head over to NCS for an interview with Vassallo providing some more info. It will make you smarter.