CJ Mirra (LS/FF award winning alumni) has dropped the title track from his album Translate, the official soundtrack to the eponymously named audio-visual freesurfing experiment and movie created in collaboration with award winning director Chris McClean.
“The video is one artist’s translation of the original film, using collaboration as protest against the current divisive political climate in Europe and beyond,” explains CJ Mirra of the piece that reinterprets original footage from the film with a digital aesthetic.
Translate is an ode to the raging North Atlantic that sculpts the landscape, the customs and the surfing tribe that call these European shores home. The album unites ethereal orchestral movements with sublime electronic excursions, lo-fi moments and contributions from the likes of surfer/musician LeeAnn Curren to transport the listener on an immersive and unrestrained journey across the coastlines of France, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland and beyond.
Translate released on The State51 Conspiracy is available 27th November 2020 on digital and ltd edition vinyl with the first single released 21st August HERE
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Translate, the second album from celebrated composer CJ Mirra, is the official soundtrack to the latest surf movie created in collaboration with multi-award winning filmmaker Chris McClean and the bedrock of their acclaimed audio-visual freesurfing experience. Released November 2020, Translate is an ode to the raging North Atlantic that sculpts the landscape, the customs and the surfing tribe that call these European shores home.
The album unites ethereal soundscapes and rising orchestral movements with sublime electronic excursions, manipulated samples and heavy, lo-fi moments to transport the listener on an immersive and unrestrained journey across the continent taking in the coastlines of France, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland and beyond. “We set out to make a soundtrack rather than a score,” explains CJ Mirra of the project that has confirmed his status as ‘the sound of cold water surfing’. “ This gave us freedom to mirror the changes in the locations, the waves and the surfers, imbuing the music with the tastes, textures and sonics to reflect the landscapes and shifting oceans, capturing the pan-European scope of the film.”
The title track Translate (released 21/08) is cinematic while collaborations with the likes of renowned surfer/ musician Lee-Ann Curren have taken the music into new, sonic territories. “We recorded with Lee-Ann at Abbey Road – she has the coolest voice and she sings on a couple of the tracks and plays some guitar. Sans Raison (released 11/09) with her layered melody and French language vocal, is two minutes of high-energy, beat-based, psych-pop with distorted bass lines and spiralling, fuzzy guitars. Our cover of the track Horses (released 25/09) is a traditional arrangement while Narnia (released 30/10) is a gritty, dark improvisation on a number of bowed metal objects summoning the industrial tone reflected in the visuals.”
CJ Mirra is the alias of renowned London based recording artist, sought after composer and sound designer John Sampson. He has scored over twenty films screened from London to SXSW and in 2018 received a BIFA nomination for Best Sound. Translate is the latest collaboration in a unique partnership with filmmaker Chris McClean exploring the bounds of the cinematic surf-sphere. Translate the live A/V performance had its sell-out world premiere at the London Surf / Film Festival where it scooped the prestigious Viewer’s Choice Award and will be touring soon.
Translate released on The State51 Conspiracy is available 27th November 2020 on digital and ltd edition vinyl with the first single released 21st August
