Musician, author and filmmaker Ian Svenonius directs a poignant accompaniment to Alexis Taylor's powerful Colombia, a dance film, shot over a few afternoons on the Pacific coast in California, featuring dancer and choreographer Sandi Denton.

The song comes from the Hot Chip frontman's latest solo album Paris In The Spring, and Taylor describes this collaboration with producer Pierre Rousseau as one of his favourite pieces of music he has made. Columbia combines emotional frankness with an stripped back soundscape, and its heightened by Svenonius's approach, shooting Denton and her dance partner in an empty studio with chairs and also on a deserted beach, on black and white Super 8mm film.   

"I asked my friend Ian Svenonius, to direct a video for 'Colombia', trusting instinctively that he would match the song's mood and make something beautiful," explains Taylor. "He went far beyond my expectations, making a stunning film shot on Super 8 and featuring Sandi Denton and her dancing partner, acting out the objective correlative of the song's emotional core, in dance.

"Ian's video is composed, framed and filmed with expert skill and thoughtfulness, a perfect understanding of the music's mood – to make a video both out of time with current trends and looks, and timeless in its own right."

Svenonius is an author, musician, playwright and filmmaker. He recently wrote and produced the stage play The Story of Johnny Lightning, and his book Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group recently enjoyed a re-release courtesy of Akashic Books. He plays music in the group Escape-ism.

"Alexis Taylor's poignant song of longing and loss inspired this dance – choreographed by Sandi Denton – and an 'on the beach' Pacific coast scenario of beatnik existentialism," he says. "Shot on super 8 in a few afternoons, it came together quite quickly as the music was inspiring, beautiful, and on an airwave of its own."