For Robbie Gennet, insomnia is more than an inability to sleep. In his new video for “Insomnia,” it becomes a physical presence, an unsettling creature that follows him through a house as he attempts to escape it.

The video, which premieres September 10, accompanies “Insomnia” from Gennet’s latest album, The Giver and the Thief, the second installment in an ambitious five-album orchestrated rock cycle that Gennet is releasing one album at a time throughout 2026.

Directed by Andrew Aidman, who has previously worked with Gennet on the videos for “Summer,” “The Camera’s On” and “Come Down,” the “Insomnia” video takes a cinematic approach to the song. Actor John Orr portrays the creature itself, while film makeup and special effects expert Christopher Osorio created its appearance. The video was filmed in April 2019 at the Historic Harris House in Glendale, California, and was subsequently slated for the film festival circuit.

The visual concept gives the song’s subject a literal form. Rather than simply showing someone awake in the middle of the night, the video imagines insomnia as something that can follow you, watch you and refuse to let you escape.

The song has been part of Gennet’s musical world for more than a decade. In August 2015, a Facebook comment from his friend Jeanne Larrabee suggested that songwriter Diane Ward write a song about insomnia. Gennet instead took the suggestion himself, writing and demoing “Insomnia” within roughly a week. Years later, the song found a new life through the short film.

“Insomnia” appears on The Giver and the Thief, which continues an eight-year creative undertaking encompassing five interconnected albums, an illustrated lyric book, music videos and filmed live performances. The complete series consists of Phase, The Giver and the Thief, The Painted Bird, Divides and Flood the Zone, with a new album arriving each month from August through December 2026.

Musically, The Giver and the Thief moves between piano-driven rock, vintage keyboards, funk, blues, boogie, chamber pop and orchestral arrangements. Gennet wrote, arranged, performed and produced the material himself, drawing on his background as a pianist, bassist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and arranger.

The album opens with “Alpha Mission,” a propulsive track inspired by space exploration, while “Pretty Ugly” combines chamber-pop textures with darker observations about beauty and perception. “Heart of the Night” takes a sweeping and seductive approach, and the title track builds around cascading layers of instrumentation and introspection. “Name of Love” brings together groove, melody and Gennet’s detailed arranging.

The expansive project follows an equally prolific year for Gennet. In 2025, he released ten self-produced full-length albums in ten months, writing and performing the material himself. The five-album cycle takes that productivity in a different direction, focusing on orchestration and creating a larger world that extends beyond the individual records.

Gennet’s musical career has included work with Lisa Marie Presley, Nick Lachey, Fuel and Everclear, along with recordings and performances involving musicians from Pearl Jam, The Doors, MC5, Dave Matthews Band and Little Feat. His work has also extended into education and writing. He taught for nearly a decade at Musicians Institute and other institutions and wrote The Key of One, his self-teaching approach to music published by Alfred Publishing.

He is also the host of The Curious Musician, a weekly podcast exploring the craft and working lives of musicians.

With “Insomnia,” one of Gennet’s older compositions becomes part of his newest creative chapter. A song that began with a casual social media suggestion in 2015 has evolved into a cinematic story about the strange, persistent presence of sleeplessness.

The video offers a fitting entry point into The Giver and the Thief, an album built around movement between intimate songwriting and expansive arrangements, while establishing the visual and cinematic dimension of the larger five-album project.

The Giver and the Thief is available now, with Gennet continuing the five-album cycle through December 2026.