Nick Hakim has announced that his forthcoming album Cometa, will be released on October 21. Coinciding with the album announcement, Hakim has shared the album’s lead single and video, “Happen,” which includes contributions from Alex G on piano and Abe Rounds on drums.
Directed by Johan Carlsson and shot in Sweden at Roy Andersson’s Studio 24 (home to acclaimed arthouse films such as A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting Existence, You, the Living, and Songs From the Second Floor), the visual was built around the concept of “sonder,” the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life with experiences and emotions as vivid and complex as one’s own. Hence the idea, “Happen” sees a slow motion one-shot as the focus pans to various people sharing a train car.
“The idea for the video is very simple, we see people on a subway, all busy with their different lives, some are in great spirits and some in deep thoughts maybe because of trouble at work or in their personal life. Sometimes when you’re in a public space you’re not interested in your fellow human beings at all and sometimes looking at them is so interesting that you can’t stop,” says Carlsson speaking on the video’s background.
“I hope this video can be an example of when people are interesting to look at, in a way that helps you reflect on your own life. I think Nick’s music is fantastic and has a cinematic and visual quality I hope comes through in the video,” he adds.
Cometa arrives following his critically acclaimed 2020 album WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD, which Rolling Stone described as a “brilliant collection that expands the horizons of the already dexterous approach to psychedelic soul.” The album features collaborations with DJ Dahi, Helado Negro, and Arto Lindsay.
Recorded between studios and domestic spaces throughout Texas, North Carolina, California, and New York, Cometa (which is the Spanish translation of “kite”) is a collection of romantic songs written through different lenses that are guided by Hakim’s experience of falling in love in a way that made him feel like he was floating.