Synopsis

Flamingods appear in a loose, psychedelic performance piece shaped more by atmosphere than by a conventional storyline. The musicians and their instruments are presented through a playful collage of ritualistic, dreamlike imagery, matching the track's dense percussion and shifting textures. Rather than illustrating the Maya sun deity named in the title directly, the video channels the band's fascination with ancient cultures, travel, tribal music and imagined ceremonial spaces. Its homemade visual language gives the song an exploratory, daydreaming quality.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video surfaced in April 2012, ahead of Flamingods' debut album, Sun. The track itself runs for 3 minutes and 14 seconds.

• "Kinich Ahau" is the name of a Maya sun god. The title fits the wider imagery surrounding Sun, whose track list also includes "Oh Maya" and "Xipe Totec."

• Kamal Rasool said that Flamingods' music drew on experiences of travel, African street musicians, Amazonian tribes, and his fascination with Aztec, Maya and Inca cultures.

• Rasool also connected the music to winter daydreaming and a longing for sunlight, which helps explain the track's blend of bright, celebratory energy and hazy, imagined-world atmosphere.

• The song was recorded during sessions for Sun in London in 2012. The album was performed by Rasool, Craig Doporto, Charles Prest, Sam Rowe and Karthik Poduval.

• "Kinich Ahau" was later reworked by London-via-Sri Lanka producer My Panda Shall Fly for the 2015 remix album Moon. That version received a separate low-budget video with a deliberately nostalgic, mid-1990s MTV and DIY-pop aesthetic.

• Moon treated Sun as a track-by-track remix project, reflecting Flamingods' interest in collaboration and in allowing loosely developed jams to evolve into new versions.