Meet The Irish Kid Who Directed An Aphex Twin Music Video At 12 Years Old
Aphex Twin has forever been known as an elusive figurehead of the ambient world. Deified by the music appreciators who enjoy experiencing what being inside a microwave would sound like. Richard D James is scarcely seen in public and keeps his circle minute. So when Warp Records reached out to a pre-teen Ryan Wyer from Rush, Co.Dublin to direct Aphex’s first music video in almost two decades, the opportunity was seized perfectly.
The love for the left-field started from a young age for Ryan. Upon hearing Aphex Twin’s “SAW 85-92” album, a new world of music creation was opened to him. “It was an absolutely breathtaking experience, and he changed the way I saw music”, he said.
Ryan continued his interest in the genre and posted videos online of himself alongside Aphex tracks. One particular, now deleted music video including the song ‘Minipops 67 [120.2][source field mix]’ went viral and caught the eye of Richard’s representatives from his label Warp Records.
“I remember Warp Records found me through my mini Pops 67 video which isn’t available to view anymore, they got into contact with me when I was 12 to do a music video to promote the Cheetah EP, so they gave me a selection of 7 tracks from the upcoming project, so CIRKLON3 was the one that I picked.”
“My parents were as you said spooked at first but they were dead excited to get it done and dusted.”
Ryan recruited neighbours from his estate in Rush to act as background characters for his music video.
The creative vision may have been hectic, as many of Ryan’s shots had to be cut as he had filmed so much. However, the music video has now gone down as iconic. “I didn’t really have a concept for it before I decided to film it, it was mainly just a compilation of us dancing with Aphex Twin masks, and I was kinda screwing around with Windows Live Movie Maker during production of the video.”
Since then, Ryan has continued to create his own music, teetering on the alternative and ambient. In 2017, after Richard’s performance at Forbidden Fruit then 13-year-old Ryan got to meet his idol. “As a person, he’s very creative, intelligent and the kindest person anyone can talk to.” Ryan explained that the feeling was mutual “I gave him a customised t-shirt of all the montages of Aphex Twin back in 2016 and he was delighted as much as I was.”
To this day, Ryan’s infatuation with music continues and his love for film has also blossomed. Being a fan of David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick, his hopes for the future are to be a film director. Since the music video, Ryan has also had his confirmation in which he chose the name Richard to honour his idol.
Meeting Richard was so surreal, it was the most amazing moment of my life!”
