MOSES SUMNEY — SAM CANNON

Sam's work with Moses Sumney began in 2016, when Moses reached out to commission a video for his song Lonely World. That first video turned into one of Sam's longest-running collaborations.

In the decade since, the two have made more than a dozen experimental videos together, shot a cover story for METAL Magazine, and taken on branded projects for Microsoft and Amazon Music. For Microsoft, that meant a live performance of Bless Me rebuilt as 3D animation through Azure Kinect — directed remotely, with Sam and Moses in two different cities, in the middle of the pandemic.

The work ranges widely, but the throughline for Cannon holds: feeling consistantly inspired by Sumney and the desire to help translate his music, which feels so powerfully cinematic, into larger visual worlds.

MOSES SUMNEY
VARIOUS WORKS
ROLE CREATIVE DIRECTOR DIRECTOR PHOTOGRAPHER

LONELY WORLD 2016

2024

DON’T BOTHER CALLING 2017

CREATIVE DIRECTION AND SCREENS CONTENT 2020

METAL MAGAZINE Nº 50 SPRING/SUMMER 2024

While social-distancing in his home in Asheville, North Carolina, Cannon collaborated with Moses Sumney to create a performance video for his track, "Bless Me." Sumney recorded vocals, guitar, and movement against a white wall in his living room, while Cannon directed him remotely over Skype. In addition to the audio and video, Sumney's motion was recorded in real time using an Azure Kinect. The resulting point cloud data was then used to create surreal 3D animations inspired by topographic maps and Rorschach tests. The final video was printed to VHS, further exploring the themes of recorded information, technology, and memory.

BLESS ME (LIVE FROM HOME) 2020

OOH LOS ANGELES

STORYBOARDS

CAPTURING POINT CLOUD DATA WITH AZURE KINECT

To coincide with the release of his double album græ, Cannon partnered with Amazon Music to create an installation for Moses Sumney's month-long artist residency at Bootleg Theater. The space—where Sumney began his career as a live performer six years prior—was transformed into an immersive listening lounge with 3D Audio on an Echo Studio.

The installation explored the spectrum of greyness in regard to color, displacement, interstitial space, and marginal identity. It featured previously unreleased images and video of Sumney, as well as scans of the original hand-written lyrics from græ.

BOOTLEG THEATER IN LOS ANGELES 2020

LISTENING EXPERIENCE LAYOUT CONCEPT

ART PRINTS FRANCIS KOKOROKO
LYRICS MOSES SUMNEY

METAL MAGAZINE
STYLING MARCUS CORREA
GROOMING JAIME DIAZ
1ST ASSIST ASHLEY CRICHTON
2ND ASSIST PATRICK JONES
INTERVIEW ANTONIO MOLINA
BLESS ME (LIVE FROM HOME) PRESENTED BY MICROSOFT
AGENCY LISTEN
PRODUCTION LISTEN
CREATIVE DIRECTION SAM CANNON
VIDEO DIRECTORS MOSES SUMNEY & SAM CANNON
ANIMATION LUIGI HONORAT
VHS PRINTING JOSH FINK
EDITOR SAM CANNON
ASSISTANT CAMERA SPENCER KELLY

GRÆ RESIDENCY PRESENTED BY AMAZON MUSIC
CREATIVE DIRECTION SAM CANNON
PRODUCTION THE MORRISON GROUP
VIDEO ART JOSH FINKE & SAM CANNON
ART PRINT IMAGES FRANCIS KOKOROKO

@SAMCANNON