An entrancing indie electronic / art pop song and stop motion music video, inspired by the breathtaking phenomenon of murmurations, in which thousands of starlings fly together in synchronised, shape-shifting, formations in the sky.
Three lyrics/phrases are repeated throughout the song, almost like a chant:
“Murmuration
Share love
Share warmth”
Sam Gracie uses murmurations as a metaphor for sharing love and warmth with others, as well as to touch on themes of unity and being stronger together.
One of the reasons starlings move in large flocks is to protect themselves against predators, however they also do so to communicate and keep warm. In these epic congregations, starlings coordinate their speed and direction by listening to their closest six or seven neighbours, with changes in movement creating a ripple effect, due to information being passed from one to another.
The music effortlessly captures this rippling movement - from the delicately quiet and ambient beginning and end, to the luminous and dazzling choruses featuring Sam Gracie’s rich, vibrant and heartfelt vocals and harmonies. He even turned his singing into melodic layers to create the effect of birds calling to one another, and it is the interaction between the many elements that makes this piece so fascinating.
The phenomenon occurs at dusk especially between November and February, and the track features a magical, wintery, landscape of percussive and synthesiser instrumentation, drawing inspiration from the production of Björk’s album “Vespertine”. The Mbira-based arpeggios and chords are the foundation for the piece - these give “Murmuration” a uniquely organic and textured quality. Additionally, Sam Gracie’s own field recorded drum and percussion samples make a strong appearance in the track, including pine cones for shakers and ice shards for hi hats. A recording of birds subtly underlies the track, becoming more prominent at certain points.
The animated video mirrors the dynamic energy of the music. It follows Sam Gracie’s debut under his new alias which was a stop motion video for his May 2026 collaboration with Cece Alaniz, “Can you find me, you, us?”.
For “Murmuration”, watercolour is used to portray the sky and tourmaline gemstone beads to represent the birds, with the varying sizes and colours highlighting closeness and distance. Smaller groups of birds appear in earlier and later sections of the video, while the louder parts of the music are met with larger, faster, and more intense gatherings. As the melodies calm at the end, the birds assemble to write the title, “Murmuration”. As the video fades, the birds suddenly funnel and drop out of the sky to roost, capturing the real-life ending of this evening display.
This multi-faceted single and video flows, dances and soars for an unforgettable and immersive audio-visual experience.
