Toby Benson (MySpace), a London native, but now residing in Brooklyn, New York grew up under the influence of his father’s (a well known jazz musician) record collection and musical tastes. After discovering his father’s vinyl collection of jazz legends like Bix Biderbeck, Milles Davis, and Bill Evans, it wasn’t long until Toby found himself gravitating to the rich, melodic sounds of the trumpet. Growing up, Toby carried his horn with him everywhere.

Toby is trained in classical composition, attending schools in the UK, India and the United States which have helped him develop his craft. While Toby was in the United States he started developing his love for electronica music.

We’ve recently completed the music video for “Analog Glitch”. The video was inspired by the sounds in the song. The song is composed of two main sound sources. One sound is chaotic, modern and electronic while the other sound shares the musical qualities of a classical orchestra or choir. The lone female’s voice, backed up by stringed instruments and glitches of digital distortion make this off beat song one of our current favourites.

We found images to represent each sound. The chaotic, electronic sounds were paired with images of a dusty circuit board. Cutting in and out of focus through the use of digital effects.

We coupled the angelic sound of the women’s voice with the center of an orchid flower. The flower, not only has the shape of a singing angel with wings, but also embodies some of the shapes of a person such as a mouth, the back of a singing throat and a head. The perfect object to compliment the beautiful sounds within this song.

The video was also an experiment in lighting, editing, compositing, color and space. All of the strobing effects you’ll notice on the top layer of the video are done through a dirty mirror while creating the light pulsing effect with a bright flashlight. This is just one of the many subtle tricks you’ll find in this music video. Enjoy.

Sterling

You can watch the high quality version of the video on Vimeo here

To here more of Toby’s music visit his MySpace Page