Music: colourful swirling graphics create a lost girl's fantasy world in animator Sabine Volkert's music video for Koloto's track Fay.

The collaboration came about after Volkert – a graduate from Germany's Augsburg University of Applied Sciences – stumbled across UK electronic artist Koloto's music on streaming service SoundCloud and "instantly fell in love with it".

Koloto – AKA Maria Sullivan – then invited Volkert to create the visuals to accompany Fay after they became acquainted.

The video follows the protagonist from the lyricless song's title, as she embarks on a "journey of self-discovery, acceptance and growth".

"After being thrown off of the support she previously received, Fay seeks refuge in an alternative world," Volkert told Dezeen. "Here she is being confronted with instances of her future self, while her insecurities manifest themselves and try to capture and bind her to the past."

The figure with long blonde hair is transported from reality into an every-changing landscape of tunnels, passages, mirrors and puddles.

Along the way she is sometimes depicted as a girl, and at other points is abstracted to a light-yellow streak speeding through the coloured graphics.

At the end, she is pulled back into the real world by an outstretched arm.

"Throughout this chase she learns to find inner strength and accept herself while moving forward," said Volkert. "Back in her actual reality she has now come out as a stronger and independent person."

The character's speed and movement roughly follow the pace of the track's distorted sounds. The visuals play out as continuous animated shot without any cuts.

"No shape is bound by the limitation of its original form; that makes it quite playful," said Volkert. "Everything is in a state of constant movement – forming, dissipating, morphing."

Volkert created the music video as part of her bachelor thesis. It took nine months of production time over a 14-month period to complete.

The designer used Toon Boom Animate Pro software to draw the animation frame by frame, then finished of the compositing and rendering with After Effects.

"Everything in the video is based on and inspired by the track itself – resulting in a style that is abstract, graphic and organic," Volkert said.

"Serving as an expression of the music, the visual language as well as the entire narrative are driven by the sounds and evolve with it."

Fay is out now on Abandon Building Records and available via Bandcamp.