Lesoir premiere animated video for their new epic Babel

(Image credit: Harry Heuts)

Dutch art rock quintet Lesoir have premiered a new animated video for their recent 20-minute epic track Babel, which you can watch in full below.

Babel was created by Lesoir during lockdown at a variety of studio locations, and the quintet had previously released a one-off live performance on YouTube.

"The animated short film for Babel was made by Miles and Rob Skarin of Crystal Spotlight, renowned for their work with bands like Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree, Gazpacho and many more<' says Lesoir guitarist Ingo Dassen.

"Inspiration for the video was the story of the Tower of Babel, but with a personal twist. The pride comes before a fall. The last 2 years we faced a pandemic, but also a climate crisis, a constant threat of war and at the core we can only blame ourselves. We look to tell this story across a 20 minute opus that soundtracks stunning visuals and a concept that we hope will resonate with fans old and new.”

"Having predominately worked within the medium of short form music videos, usually around the five minute mark, it was an ambitious undertaking for our studio to produce a fully animated short film for Babel," adds director Miles Skarin. "The short film is a loose, abstract take on the story of the Tower of Babel which follows a faceless, anonymous civilisation and their rise and fall over time. The Tower is always a central part of the film and remains a constant throughout the journey.

“Babel is the longest animated short film that Crystal Spotlight have produced and for it we invested heavily in lots of modern animation technologies, most notably Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. Mostly used to create next generation video games, it can produce incredibly vivid images and detailed worlds that really brought our vision for this story to life. Unreal Engine 5’s Lumen lighting engine is used frequently throughout the film and adds so much depth and realism to the scenes.

"Martin Matus Davis (our in-house animation expert) was able to add so much personality and character to the film with his expressive animations. There are certain moments that really make you connect with these faceless individuals and that was only possible thanks to his bespoke, handcrafted work. We are so proud of the end result with Babel and we really hope that you enjoy the journey that both Lesoir’s music and our film takes you on!"

Babel is available as a strictly limited edition, numbered 12" hand etched vinyl, of which there will be only 250 copies, and as a digital release.

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Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.