Montell2099 has delivered a powerful new visual from within the beautiful landscape of Aotearoa’s Lake Alta.
Showcasing his celebrated sound with a glimpse at some of his latest songs, the electronic producer’s talent comes alive in a short film against the serene backdrop of The Remarkables mountain range in the South Island of New Zealand.
Working through minus-zero-degree temperatures, Montell‘s crew pulled off a phenomenal mission to set up lights, cameras, and decks on the slopes. “This was probably one of the toughest projects that we’ve ever done, me and my team, but also one of the most rewarding,” the producer tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
Getting their gear up the incline was no easy feat but with some help from a mountain crew and their snowmobiles, they were able to seamlessly pull it together. The day began at 7am with a quick breakfast before heading out to the location ready for a day’s worth of hard slog to get everything where it needed to be for the “majestic” shoot.
“The whole day was spent just setting everything up, all the gear, making sure everybody was good, having food prepared. Even just thinking about it now, I’m like ‘damn, that was pretty hectic’,” Montell recalls.
“I had the easy part because I was DJing so I got to jump around but I had a big jacket on so I was keeping myself warm, but all the other crew, they had to sit there on their cameras, they couldn’t really do as much moving as myself.
“I think we’d done so much pre-planning up to that point when it was go time, we knew exactly what we all needed to do and what part we all played. It was pretty seamless, it was kind of like playing a show, you do all this preparation up to the show, and then when it’s showtime you just go for it. When you’re working with mother nature, you just never know, some things might go missing or things that are out of our control, but we got there in the end.”
During the 29-minute mix, Montell brings to life a series of his best-known hits, remixes, and his own collaborations with a wide scope of popular artists including Dimension, Sub Focus, Netsky, Glass Animals, RL Grime, Shouse, Clean Bandit, and The Kid LAROI.
Despite being the centrepiece of the clip, Montell is keen to share the glory with the many hands that brought the project to life. A triangular lighting installation that forms part of the high-quality production is courtesy of the magic of Human Person’s Ben Dalgleish, known for his stellar work with Billie Elish and Swedish House Mafia.
“There were so many people involved in making this project – from the mountain crew to the film crew to the Department of Conservation. It just seems like what I did played such a small role in this whole thing, I’m just so appreciative. It really was a team effort, from all parties involved.”
The spectacle is his second showcase in a flawless setting after previously laying down a phenomenal set at Karekare beach in 2020. “It’s just a perfect marriage of me getting to show what I do but also the beautiful country I get the opportunity to live in so it’s the best of both worlds,” Montell explains.
That clip boasted a visual production of a gorgeous sunset before his triangular beams were seen glowing from the sand to the electronic sounds he’s become known for – and he hints we’ll be seeing more of them as he gets ready to tour the country early next year.
But Montell is hesitant to say whether there will be any more specialty performances from stunning hot spots around the corner. “A couple of days later we were thinking ‘when are we going to do the next one?’, ‘we should go to Mars’ and thinking up some crazy ideas but I think we’re going to take a little bit of a break from it before we start planning anything new – but you never know.”
Montell2099’s Live From Lake Alta is out now.
