George Harrison “Cosmic Empire” (Day 2 Demo / Take 1 / Lyric Video)
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of George Harrison’s 1970 solo album ‘All Things Must Pass’, we created a visual for the previously unreleased demo ‘Cosmic Empire. A song which didn’t make the cut on the original album.
This is a song about inner and outer worlds, and discovering the beauty of the universe whilst exploring new plains of consciousness. Some people access these plains through spirituality, some with psychedelics. George explored both!
George and the other members of The Beatles had famously experimented with LSD. “I fell in love, not with anything or anybody in particular,” he said of the drug’s effect, “but with everything.” In our visual for ‘Cosmic Empire’ we aimed to represent much of what Harrison was experiencing and thinking about at the time of the recording.
During the intro of our visual, George plays the guitar through a window at his home at Friar Park, welcoming us into the ‘Cosmic Empire’. Using a collage technique, we then take a trip through a series of scenes which celebrate the beauty of our earth and beyond. We featured a range of space imagery, elements from nature, traditional Indian art, Hare Krishna and spiritual references. Along with ‘Sacred Geometry’ – shapes that are recurring in nature and often referred to as the ‘architecture of the universe’.
Our inclusion of gold textures is a nod to its link as a sacred colour, traditionally associated with deities and Buddhist beings. It also represents the bright rays of light that illuminate our world. The gold textured lyrics appear in the same font that appeared on the original sleeve of ‘All Things Must Pass’.
Another detail we wanted to reference was George’s garden gnome collection! We featured the gnomes depicted on the album’s cover, along with scans of red and green leaves from his garden at Friar Park, as his garden was a place that George loved to tend and spend time.
Working with Dhani Harrison’s input, it was a career highlight to create this colourful psychedelic trip to compliment George’s “Cosmic Empire”. A place where “truth comes shining clear,” and where “our souls are filled with joy”.
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