Byulah and Anja Ngozi - ‘B BRAVE’

A video that explores the surreal duality of their recent release on Ngozi’s Síbín label.

In the video for their debut track ‘B BRAVE’, UK duo Byulah and Anja Ngozi inhabit a hallucinogenic world full of fantastical imagery that draws from Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland in a distinctly DIY fashion. The visual reflects the dual nature of the track, whose raw vocal from Byulah is accompanied by an atmospheric R&B-influenced instrumental from Ngozi.

Directed by Charlie Williams of London studio Voodoo Video, the ‘B BRAVE’ video combines art direction from Natalie Dean, set and costume by Jake Passmore and styling by Bella Dupee with cutting edge visual effects. The result is a surreal dual world that flips to a darker atmosphere as the daydream setting turns into something a little more nightmarish.

‘B Brave’ is the third release on Síbín, a label founded by Ngozi and Joe Armon-Jones collaborator Maxwell Owin. One of the label’s core philosophies is to to create different versions when working on singles, to play on the idea of duality and to pay an experimental homage to dub music. ‘B BRAVE’ was also versioned in this way, with Ngozi using the stems from the A-side to create the B-side.

“It was basically a flip of the original, but with the vocals and original samples chopped up and remade with a different vibe,” Ngozi says.

‘B BRAVE’ is available now from Bandcamp. Ngozi also co-curated Untitled, a 2019 compilation album that drew on the Barbican’s major Basquiat retrospective in 2017 with original tracks from UK artists such as Kojey Radical, Shabaka Hutchings, Coby Sey and Mala. Buy it at The Vinyl Factory shop.

Credits:

Video Company – Voodoo Video
Director/Producer & VFX – Charlie Williams
Executive Producer – Anja Ngozi
Art Director – Natalie Dean
Set & Costume – Jake Passmore
AD & Photography – Annie Tobin and Max Bartholomew
Gaffer – Deen Gomez
1st Camera Assistant – Alex Ferguson
2nd Camera Assistant – Matt MacGill
Props – Josie Hunter
Editor – Jesse Amos
Stylist – Bella Dupee
Stylist’s Assistant – Lucien Chadwick and George Riley
Press Photography: Annie Tobin