Watch: Montreal’s Paul Cargnello releases an extraordinary video for Promises

Montreal musician Paul Cargnello is releasing his sixteenth album, Promises, later this spring, but the eponymous single premieres today – with both French and English versions. Accompanying the title track is an extraordinary video starring well-known dancer and voguer Toshiro Kamara, and showcasing their first solo choreography. Notably Kamara has already worked with heavy hitters including Le1f and Jack White, but what makes the Promises video so exceptional is its stark industrial setting and unrelenting focus on Kamara and Kamara alone (with only the briefest of cameos from Cargnello). With movements somehow both painfully raw and eminently refined, Kamara commands the camera and, with a perfect balance of physical control and expression, leaves the viewer spellbound.

Musically the album Promises is meant as a loving tribute to the influence of three of Cargnello’s favs – David Bowie, Prince, and Phife Dawg (A Tribe Called Quest) – who all passed away in the space of three and a half terrible months in 2016. But the single “Promises” resembles nothing so much as a glorious anthem in the style of George Michael, another icon lost way too soon in 2016.

Peep the new vid below and keep your ears open and your eyes peeled for the May 3 drop of the full album, which features DJ Shash’U from Fool’s Gold, local freestyle rappers Karma Atchykah and Sereni T, Iraqi-Canadian rapper Narcy, Mello G, and more.