After At Night I Fly, a band made up of acknowledged members of the Hungarian Progressive music scene released their last album “Mirror Maze” in September 2019, the band has set out to make a follow-up. While the new album is scheduled for release in the Summer, they have already recorded a preview song in a special format.
Watch the official video for “At Night I Fly – Distress (Live Session from Vault 10)” through the YouTube player below:
The 10-minute track is titled “Distress (Live from Vault 10).” It has been recorded as a “live session” clip, so the music of the professionally filmed material has been recorded entirely live on the location of the video, mixed by Barnabas Hidasi, who regularly collaborates with the band and the members’ former projects.
The more than ten-minute composition is based on BZ’s (Zoltan Batky, vocals) lyrics and music, which he and Andras (Andras Adam Horvath, guitars) worked out in detail, and the final version also incorporated ideas from the other band members. While the music takes a slow-building form, spanning several emotional levels, the lyrics represent a metaphor for a serious psychological condition. Many works have been written about narcissism, usually from the victim’s point of view, but here it is about the discovery of the antagonist: a person who has seen the world and make others see himself in a completely wrong way for most of his life, driving everyone away. And when he could finally able to face up to his mistakes, there was no one left around him. In the song, this is personified by the only passenger in a broken vehicle (ship? submarine? spaceship?) who, drifting into the distance, helplessly sends out his last distress call for help.
This is the mood that the video tries to convey in the images, with its post-apocalyptic, industrial environment, old TVs and monitors emitting only static, museum computers and moody lighting. The concept was also special because it was a live recording accompanied with a professional video clip shot on the spot. The experienced film team of director Gergo Fekete, cinematographer Marcell Benjamin Krulik and production designer Eszter Huszar played a major role in this, while the visual world was defined by the retro technical equipment provided by Gábor Szakacs (ReGamEX). These include tech-rarities like a 1978 Commodore CBM 3000 and a 1986 Macintosh Plus.
András Adam Horvath supervised the recording of the music on location, while Barnabas Hidasi (HLSTUDIO), who has worked with the band and its members for many years, was responsible for mixing and mastering.
After the song’s video premiere, the audio has also been uploaded to popular streaming services and was performed in concert with a great success. After that, the band is focusing on the studio works for the new album, so that they can start playing festivals and solo shows with renewed vigour after the album’s release.
Distress (Live Session from Vault 10)
At Night I Fly:
Zoltan ‘BZ’ Batky / Lead Vocals
Andras Adam Horvath / Guitars, Backing Vocals
Gergely Springer / Bass
Gabor Vaczo / Drums
Special guest:
Zsolt Kovago / Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Music: Zoltan Batky and Andras Adam Horvath with contributions from Gergely Springer, Gabor Vaczo and Zsolt Kovago
Lyrics: Zoltan Batky