Cory Cullinan - 2025 Alive (Pictoria)

Cory Cullinan is a musician, composer and educator with an impressive list of music and soundtrack credits, as well involvement with educational establishments. Now with the assistance of his talented daughters: the singer songwriting Riley Max and visual wiz Sidney Cullinan, he's something of an audio visual maverick too. "2025 Alive" is very much a family affair, and refreshingly they're all singing from the same hymn sheet and got something to say.

Political and social events in America this year have been tumultuous to say the least, and with most of the population affected in some way it's a wonder the artistic backlash hasn't been stronger. Well this family aren't keeping quiet, they're not using words, and they're not pulling any punches either.

Fittingly, "2025 Alive" is experimental, challenging fare. I mean enough words have been written and spoken about Trump and his cohorts, but with satire now firmly on its death bed, maybe it's time for noise and imagery to take over the fight?

You know that you're in for a ride when an unsettling buzz is promptly joined by a growl and a distant explosion. Guitar snippets then hint at all you ever knew slipping into a widening crack in the ground, and if that wasn't enough synths seep from the depths and start to submerge all that is natural and good. But all is not lost; Max's wordless vocals, alongside disembodied, disintegrating horns breeze in from higher ground to survey the damage and do what they can to help, despite the unnatural disaster unfolding from its White House epicentre. The struggle is real, but the family vocals and musicianship do their best against the unrelenting sonic corruption in plain sight, as the struggle spirals into a collaged, free jazz inspired crescendo.

On its own this would have been quite the statement, but I hope you're watching the video whilst listening? Sidney Cullinan is a compelling director and shadows the unsettling soundtrack with a poignant and pointed video montage. You know all is not well when the video is birthed in prolonged darkness, the only light shed by glitchy computer graphics. Fortunately, reassuring scenes of everyday life from outside the corridors of power soon light a candle, with shots of the 99% going about their days.

But don't turn away. As the audio disintegrates so does the imagery, and it's not long before clips of the unrelenting news cycle and political commentators shatter the peace. The drivers and enablers of our post truth, peak capitalism broligarchy then make an entrance: Trump, Musk, Kennedy, ICE employees/terrorists (delete as applicable) accosting citizens on the street; they're all there. But rather like Max's voice and the human instruments that pierce the sonic shadows with hope and resilience, so do the scenes of humanity - football games int he park, scientists looking for answers or people out for a stroll or a shop remind us that that most people, hopefully you too, just want an easy life and simpler things - food, a home, education, health and happiness. We also have the democratic choice to enable more peaceful, altruistic leaders - use those votes wisely.

This is a hell of an audio visual production that only really makes sense when it's seen and heard. It looks like Adam Curtis might just have some competition from this family in Colorado.

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Playlist Companion

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