SPIME.IM’s “Exaland I (FOABS)” stems from their excellent Exaland LP, out on Swiss label ~OUS. For the accompanying video, the Turin-based audiovisual collective investigates themes they have been continuously exploring in their work: the boundaries of identity and perception in a world where our virtual selves have become increasingly important. The video tries to establish “a relationship with a digital environment.” The listener and viewer is exposed to “the upsetting of the bodily and psychic nature from which she unsuccessfully tries to detach herself,” as the collective puts it.

Created by Stefano Maccarelli, the video is an immersive virtual sculpture “linked to the concept of human mutation.” As sounds move around space, so do the morphing, bust-like sculptures (that is if you don’t forget to spin the video around yourself if you’re watching it on a desktop). The visuals seem to be ever-morphing around you, accompanying the sounds to successfully transcend beyond a pure gimmick.

With just the right amount of time to explore the digital environment and its space, the video is quite the trip. While the goal of SPIME.IM’s video seems a tad too grand for a desktop computer or a mobile device, it sure does the job to make one eager to catch their live AV shows. Furthermore, the video serves as a great introduction to the rest of the LP. On Exaland, the collective keeps on exploring corners of digitally warped spaces of intensities, which end up sounding like a mix of Sophie meets Lorenzo Senni [see zweikommasieben #17].