As a musician and video director living in Dublin city, the artist Cynema took the opportunity recently to capture the discomforting quiet of a city in lockdown. The video was shot by two roommates (Peter aka Cynema and Matty Kileen) within the 2km restrictions and is accompanied by a new Cynema track entitled ‘Promises’.
It really captures the strange alternative universe of a time we are living in right now, with the deserted city taking on a 28 Days Later zombie movie vibe. Eerie and yet a real document of our time right now.
“Like many artists facing the COVID-19 pandemic, I saw the opportunity to create. Being based in Dublin the chance to document the city in its eerily quiet form was right in front of me. The video was directed by (and stars) me, and the camera operated by my roommate Matty Killeen.
We had a limited window of time to capture it in an absolutely still form. We tapped into a real run n’ gun flow while bouncing from street to street and feel we captured something special. The song is something that’s brand new & unreleased. It was written during the period of Coronavirus lockdown and definitely contains some of the angst and anxiety of the time. I’m super excited about it and it’ll likely find it’s way onto a body of work before the end of this year.”

Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.