DENSE is an awesomely talented psychedelic garage rock band hailing from Leeds, England, who combine thick, fuzzy grooves with fiery riffs and intricate melodies to create a unique and heavy sound that’s at once retro and futuristic. Despite their youthful, boy-next-door image, their music is incredibly intense and badass, with an impressive maturity, complexity and density – as their name would imply. The best description I can think of for their sound would be ‘industrial surf-metal psychedelic rock’. Making this phenomenal music are Charlie Fossick (Guitar/Vocals), Dylan Metcalf (Bass) and Sam Heffer (Drums).
I’ve previously featured them several times on this blog over the past two years, most recently last May (2018) when I reviewed their explosive single “The Smoke”. (You can check out those reviews by clicking on the “Related” links at the bottom of this page.) Now they return with another mind-blowing new single “Displaced Face“. The song is aptly-named, cause it’s positively face-melting!
The track opens strong, with an ominous, gnarly mix of deep, throbbing bass, distorted psychedelic guitar sounds and spacey background synths lasting approximately 40 seconds. Suddenly, everything erupts into a maelstrom of tortured, reverb-heavy riffs, heavy, thunderous bass and explosive percussion – all seemingly hell-bent on blowing out our eardrums and throwing us against the wall. Charlie screams lyrics I can’t quite make out, but who cares, as the music is fucking on fire! These guys are literal beasts on their respective instruments, and Charlie is a freaking madman when he opens his mouth!
I’ve loved every single one of their songs, and “Displaced Face” is no exception, delivering four minutes of intense, psychedelic ear candy. The marvelously creepy artwork for the single was designed by band friend Elle Penketh.
1. SUPERPOSITION – Young the Giant (2)
2. DELTA BLUES – Jetstream (1)
3. READY TO LET GO – Cage the Elephant (14)
4. LOVE IT IF WE MADE IT – The 1975 (5)
5. NORTHERN LIGHTS – Death Cab for Cutie (6)
6. CHANGE – The Revivalists (7)
7. POWER OVER ME – Dermot Kennedy (8)
8. S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun) – The Glorious Sons (9)
9. SIGUE CON EL AMOR – John Defeo (10)
10. VOLCANO – Feather Weight (12)
11. TRAMPOLINE – SHAED (13)
12. SUNFLOWER – Post Malone & Swae Lee (3)
13. HOME – morgxn featuring WALK THE MOON (15)
14. IN THE WATER – The Underground Vault (4) 19th week on chart
15. ASSUME FORM – James Blake (20)
16. MOVEMENT – Hozier (17)
17. LONGSHOT – Catfish and the Bottlemen (18)
18. DISAPPEAR – Western Jaguar (19)
19. EXITS – Foals (21)
20. CHLORINE – twenty one pilots (26)
21. WANDER – Vox Eagle with Pierre Fontaine (11) 19th week on chart
22. SALVATION – The Strumbellas (24)
23. SECRET THAT LIES BEHIND – The Gear (25)
24. HARMONY HALL – Vampire Weekend (28)
25. FEAR THE FUTURE – IAMWARFACE (29)
26. DARK PLACES – The Frontier (30)
27. YOU’RE THE ONE – Greta Van Fleet (23)
28. PRESSURE – Muse (16)
29. APOCALIPSTICK – Lazy Queen (22)
30. TIME – Morosity (N)
Cary Balsano is a handsome and talented young singer/songwriter of Italian origin who’s now based in Liverpool, England. I last featured him in September 2017 when I reviewed his beautiful single “Horizon” which you can read here. He’s just dropped another lovely single called “Versailles“, a tender and moving song that speaks to coming to terms with addiction.
The instrumentals are simple, consisting of Cary’s beautiful strummed acoustic guitar, accompanied by subtle bass and a spare kick drum keeping the beat. Cary’s gentle vocals are earnest and heartfelt as he sings about his and his love interest’s addictions – to drugs and to each other, as a way of dulling their pain and insecurities. To me, Cary’s naming the song ‘Versailles’ would seem to be a metaphor for a desire to make a peace accord with their demons and each other.
You are the fire You are desire The city lights have gone too far You are craving a gram
This is a way we live our pain A crying shame Breathing our lies Victims of life So come to Versailles And I never want to let this go
You are my lust You are covered in dust And I still feel the same old pain It’s you and me and our fame
We’re all in the same boat Living in fear of living
Octobers is an alternative/dream pop/postpunk band from British Columbia, Canada who formed in 2015. Comprising the band are brothers Nick and Joel Ellsay (guitar, synths, vocals), Hayden Shea (drums) and Liam Rhynolds (bass). They released their excellent debut Misfits EP that same year to positive reviews, also garnering airplay on indie and college radio stations throughout Canada and the U.S. The band went on a brief hiatus in 2017 after a few major life changes, but are now back and better than ever with a new EP Summer Waste.
The EP kicks off with the sunny and upbeat “California“. The song opens with a blast of drumbeats, then settles into a pleasing soundscape of chiming guitars, sparkling synths and a humming bassline that evokes images of a summer day at the beach. The pace quickens in the choruses with an exuberant jangly guitar solo and pummeling drums. The song lyrics seem to have dual meaning, with the singer possibly expressing his love for both ‘California’ a girl and the state: “Hey California. Something about ya. You are the sweetest sound. California, always did love ya. You’re the summer all year round.”
“Sunshine” has the singer pondering the love that brightens his world: “Are you my sunshine? Are you my starry sky? Are you these glowing lights, cause you burn so bright.” I love the thunderous jangly guitars and percussion, and the Ellsay brothers’ vocal harmonies are really marvelous. The sunny vibes turn darker with “Be Still“, a heartfelt plea to a loved one to try and meet him halfway, and salvage their damaged relationship: “Just be still, don’t say a word, cause you’ve been talking all your life. The tables turned, now tell me what that feels like. / Lay down your gloves, I don’t wanna fight.” Once again, the guitar work is fantastic, and the rhythm section nicely complements with pulsating bass, thumping drumbeats, and lots of crashing cymbals.
Summer Waste ends on a positive note with “Higher“, a jubilant anthem about not giving up, and reaching as high as you can to reach your goals: “Once you start you never can stop. You go higher and higher and higher. Oh yeah!” Their jangly guitars on this track sound a bit like The Cure, which is never a bad thing. Overall, it’s a terrific little EP, with a title that could be misleading as it’s anything but a waste. The lyrics, while not necessarily deep, are honest and heartfelt, and the instrumentals are all outstanding, as are Nick and Joel’s sublime harmonies. Nicely done guys!
Guide Dog is an alternative rock band from Cardiff, Wales I recently learned about when I received a submission for a review of their new single “Generation Y“. I instantly fell in love with their music, which they refer to as “sponge grunge”. Fusing elements of alt-rock, grunge, punk, and electronica, they create songs that are fast, fun, irreverent and in-your-face. They’ve also got a wicked sense of humor.
Comprising Guide Dog are Peter Roberts (Guitar, Vocals), John Maloney (Drums) and Ian Russell (Bass), who describe themselves as “a bunch of wankers who can’t sing and can’t play our instruments. Like the Spice Girls with moustaches. All or some or one were formerly members of Robots In The Sky, Tetra Splendour, People In Planes and Cold Specks.” Well, I’m here to say that, not only can they sing and play the hell out of their instruments, they’re way better than the Spice Girls!
In July 2017 they released their fantastic debut album Lovely Domestic Bliss, a collection of 10 banger tunes. I highly recommend my readers give it a listen, and trust me when I say you’ll be glad you did! They’re now working on a second album Generation Y, to be released later this year on Roberts’ label Hi-Vis Records. It will be accompanied by a book of poems entitled Thou Shalt Stare Into Space. In December 2018, they released the first single “Dead Beat” from the forthcoming album, and now follow up with a second single “Generation Y”, a protest song of sorts against the current fucked-up state of affairs in both the UK and USA. If these two tracks are any indication, Generation Y is going to be a phenomenal record.
About the new single, the band explains: “‘Generation Y’ comes at a time when children are bunking off school to protest outside Parliament about Westminster’s flimsy and inadequate response to climate change – prompting a swift and aggressive backlash by the politicians who dismissed the adolescents and ridiculed their irresponsibility; and the American president staging an imaginary state of emergency in a vein attempt to bludgeon Capitol Hill into funding a giant border wall whilst triumphantly filling his house with branded cheeseburgers to feed his unpaid staff and denying climate change is even happening… so it’s probably an appropriate juncture for a protest song!”
“Generation Y” is a tasty little slice of sonic confection, featuring an irresistible bouncy drumbeat, and presented with a lo-fi vibe that keeps the song from bouncing too high. It starts off with a gnarly guitar riff, accompanied by quirky synths, fuzzy bass and very snappy drums. All of the aforementioned instruments explode into bigger, louder and heavier versions of themselves in the choruses, along with an injection of furiously crashing cymbals that turn the track into a real belter. I love Roberts’ wonderful fervent vocals, which sound like a cross between Dave Matthews and Adam Duritz. And the point in the song at 2:29 minutes where he goes “wooh” is a special highlight for me in what is overall a perfect track.
Like all their songs, the lyrics are refreshingly direct and colorful, pulling no punches in calling out bullshit as warranted:
Why did we get up to die generation, I got a toupee on my mind generation, Suck it ’til it all runs dry generation, Why why why…?
When you get so high but you don’t know what it means, Like a vandalised slush puppy machine, Like the fashionable rips appearing in my jeans, Wave a plastic flag at a golden carriage. I’m a psychopath with a bunch of keys, I’m a paper jam with 2.9% APR, I’m an ass licker, I’m a soul sucker, I’m oozing out of a sausage and bean melt, Waving my plastic flag…
Why did we get up to die generation, I got a toupee on my mind generation, Suck it ’til it all runs dry generation, Why why why…?
I don’t drink and drive or have the odd line once in a while, I don’t dress up like a lady in secret, I never think about blowing up the White House, I got hope for salvation but I don’t know why. I felt sick so I took an anti sickness pill, I felt disconnected so I bought a new telephone, Got a payment plan and a fake sun tan, Some health and safety regulations, But I just can’t relax…
Why did we get up to die generation, I got a toupee on my mind generation, Suck it ’til it all runs dry generation, Why why why…?
Based in the bucolic New England city of Burlington, Vermont, Phantom Suns is an indie band who play alternative rock heavily influenced by grunge elements, with traces of metal and progressive rock to create their distinctive raw sound. The band consists of Seth Gunderson (guitar & vocals), Chris Knauer (bass & backing vocals) and Chris Mathieu (drums, percussion & backing vocals). Ryan Cohen previously played bass but was recently replaced by Chris Knauer, however, Cohen will continue to provide production and engineering assistance to the band.
I’ll admit up-front that I’m not the biggest fan of grunge rock, and didn’t care for it when it became popular in the early 1990s. I generally prefer rock music that’s highly melodic, with fuller, more polished arrangements, and just couldn’t get into the dissonant, sludgy and rather depressing sound of grunge. In time, however, I came to recognize and appreciate its groundbreaking influence in reshaping the sound of rock, and music in general, and learned to like some of it. I also get why its honest lyrics and darker themes addressing social issues like alienation, disillusionment, substance abuse and depression, along with its lack of flash, pretense and overt sentimentality, made grunge so popular and accessible, especially to young people who more closely identified with the messages expressed in the songs. Like rap, grunge music reflected what many of them were feeling.
That said, it was with a bit of trepidation that I agreed to review Phantom Suns’ album Calderaafter their drummer Chris Mathieu reached out to me. Though I am EclecticMusicLover, and try to always keep an open mind about all kinds and styles of music, I feared I may not be the right person to judge their music. But I gave the album several listens and am happy to report that not only do I really like it, I’m also blown away by their skilled songwriting and musicianship. And as much as I like their raw, gritty sound, it’s their intelligent and compelling song lyrics, written by Gunderson, that most impressed me. I’m glad they included them with the songs on their Bandcamp page, and I encourage my readers to check them out.
Caldera was released in November 2018, and follows the band’s 2014 debut EP Parhelia. The album features 12 tracks, the first of which, “Forget“, starts off slowly with a moody strummed guitar, then erupts into a barrage of gnarly riffs, buzzing bass and hammering drums. Gunderson’s raw vocals match the grittiness of the music as he advises us to not overthink things: “Searching for the key to unlock all your potential when you don’t know what you think. But what you think you know is only your opinion. Soon as I make up my mind, I’ll be all set. Maybe start chipping away at all this debt. Stop regretting things that haven’t happened yet ’cause you never know.”
It’s a good song, but the guys really hit their stride on the hard-driving, melodically complex “Lazuli“. The track storms out of the gate with dark, sludgy riffs loaded with raw power and grit. Two-thirds of the way through, a furiously distorted guitar solo announces an abrupt change in the melody. With his grimy guitar ablaze, Gunderson snarls “You don’t have a clue but you fake it so well.”
One of the standout tracks for me is “Disposable“, both in terms of it’s more melodic, progressive rock vibe, and it’s scathing lyrics attacking man’s greedy, wasteful ways that imperil our future: “Watch your castle crumble all around you. Just because you want more than you can handle. Disposable culture. Blatant disregard for the future. You’re disposable.” The video they made for the track is fantastic too, a psychedelic trip of colorful imagery superimposed over footage of the band performing the song that nicely complements the rough textures of the instrumentals.
As I continued diving deeper into Caldera, some of the tracks sound similar to one another, which is to be expected on an album with 12 tracks. Nevertheless, there are many more gems to be found here. I really dig the metaphor of “Knotweed“, symbolizing someone the singer just can’t rid himself of: “You just keep sprouting up. You return even though I dug you right up by the roots. Invasive foliage. I wage an all-out war. You’ve clearly overstepped the boundary. Can’t eradicate you. You’re so damn resilient.” And the heavy chugging guitar riffs, fuzzy bassline and boisterous drums are as dirty as the soil from which the knotweed’s been pulled. “Probably Wrong” ventures into rock’n’roll territory, with moments where Gunderson’s raging guitar and Mathieu’s frantic drumbeats propel the song into the sonic stratosphere.
Another standout is the face-melting “Trial By Stone“, an homage to Jim Henson’s classic film The Dark Crystal. As is befitting the film, the song is heavy and dark, with dense, gritty riffs teeming with distortion and reverb, deep, crushing bass and thunderous drums. Gunderson’s guitar work is fucking incredible, and Mathieu is a veritable beast on his drum kit. Gunderson’s vocals are chilling as he sneers “A dying world. A dying race imprisoned within themselves.” The video superimposes scenes from The Dark Crystal over footage of the band performing the song.
“Perpetual Motion Holder“, “Hush Money” and “Brontoscorpio” deliver more gnarly riffs, fuzzy basslines and speaker-blowing drums. “It Won’t Stop” is a serious head-banger, opening with Gunderson shrieking words I can’t quite make out, followed by an explosion of raging guitars, heavy buzzing bass and furious drums. Gunderson all but screams the lyrics advising us to just accept our fates: “Your best bet is to just accept it. A warm welcome as it explodes. There’s no hope of getting out of the way. The kind of fury that can never be tamed. It will envelop, it will engulf, entirely. No! It won’t stop!”
The album closes on a high note with the mostly instrumental “Olympus Mons“, an epic track that offers definitive proof that these guys are supremely talented musicians. The track starts off with a somber guitar riff, then a simple drumbeat kicks in as the guys sing in harmony: “One of these days I’ll write some words.” With that, a very gritty, reverb-drenched riff ensues before calming back down for the second harmonic vocal: “I was so bummed out. Another Olympus Mons.” The gritty guitar and bass return, only this time distorted into a maelstrom of tortured riffs, accompanied by an abundance of crashing cymbals that add to the drama. Eventually, a wailing guitar solo is layered over the stormy distortion, blowing our minds and speakers before it all spirals downward into oblivion at the close. Wow, what a masterpiece this song is, and a fitting conclusion to this superb album by Phantom Suns. If you’re a fan of grunge-infused alternative rock, then you will enjoy Caldera.
Phantom Suns has a show coming up on on April 19 at Monkey House in Winooski, VT.
Infinite Eights is an incredibly charismatic and astonishingly talented indie alternative pop/rock band based in Tampa, Florida. They were one of the first bands to follow me on Twitter back in the fall of 2015, when I was just starting out as a music blogger and still a complete unknown. At the time, two of the band members, Parker Wilkson (guitar, keyboards & vocals) and Tyler Hanks (drums & percussion) were still in high school, and Davin Norman (bass) was in college. I was immediately impressed by the high quality of their songs, as well as their kindness and gracious humility, and wrote a feature about them for this blog in April 2016, which you can read here.
They originally formed in 2012 while still young teens, and have released numerous singles over the years, as well as a six-track EP Unfound in 2015. Their music is characterized by gorgeous melodies, sparkling synths, lush keyboards, intricate guitar riffs, and nimble bass and percussion. Infinite Eights has performed in several music festivals alongside some of the biggest names in music, including The 1975, Phantogram, AWOLNATION and Sir Sly, among others, and has opened for Kaleo, AJR, In the Valley Below, and The Relationship. It’s given me great pleasure to follow them on their musical journey, witnessing their growth and maturity as a band on an upward trajectory.
One of their recent singles is “Off the Rails“, an achingly beautiful, bittersweet song about how one partner is giving up on the relationship. The song is magnificent, and a perfect example of their superb songwriting and musicianship. It opens with a stunning guitar riff, backed by shimmery synths, Davin’s pulsating bass and Tyler’s gently pummeling drumbeats. Parker’s guitar work is impressive, and he lays down a breathtaking guitar solo in the bridge that literally brings tears to my eyes. His heartfelt vocals are lovely, ranging from breathy to impassioned as he fervently sings “Cause you’re going off the rails. Know just what that entails. Gonna let our love go stale. You’re going off the rails now.”
The cast of the “Off the Rails” video
Infinite Eights has just released a wonderful new video for the song, their first ‘official’ video. The action tells the story laid out in the lyrics, about a young woman giving up on the relationship and saying goodbye to her partner, played by Parker, as she boards a train that will carry her away. The outstanding video was skillfully directed by band friend Ashley Acevedo, and is dedicated to Parker’s beautiful mother Natalie, who tragically passed away in January.
1. DELTA BLUES – Jetstream (1)
2. SUPERPOSITION – Young the Giant (3)
3. SUNFLOWER – Post Malone & Swae Lee (4)
4. IN THE WATER – The Underground Vault (2)
5. LOVE IT IF WE MADE IT – The 1975 (7)
6. NORTHERN LIGHTS – Death Cab for Cutie (8)
7. CHANGE – The Revivalists (9)
8. POWER OVER ME – Dermot Kennedy (10)
9. S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun) – The Glorious Sons (13)
10. SIGUE CON EL AMOR – John Defeo (12)
11. WANDER – Vox Eagle with Pierre Fontaine (5)
12. VOLCANO – Feather Weight (14)
13. TRAMPOLINE – SHAED (15)
14. READY TO LET GO – Cage the Elephant (19)
15. HOME – morgxn featuring WALK THE MOON (16)
16. PRESSURE – Muse (6)
17. MOVEMENT – Hozier (20)
18. LONGSHOT – Catfish and the Bottlemen (21)
19. DISAPPEAR – Western Jaguar (22)
20. ASSUME FORM – James Blake (25)
21. EXITS – Foals (23)
22. APOCALIPSTICK – Lazy Queen (11)
23. YOU’RE THE ONE – Greta Van Fleet (24)
24. SALVATION – The Strumbellas (26)
25. SECRET THAT LIES BEHIND – The Gear (29)
26. CHLORINE – twenty one pilots (30)
27. HIGH HOPES – Panic! At the Disco (17)
28. HARMONY HALL – Vampire Weekend (N)
29. FEAR THE FUTURE – IAMWARFACE (N)
30. DARK PLACES – The Frontier (N)
One of the most enchanting songs of all-time has to be “Nature Boy”, especially the original version recorded by the legendary Nat “King” Cole. I distinctly remember the first time I heard it as a young teenager, and being absolutely enthralled by its haunting beauty. I recognized the singer as Nat “King” Cole – arguably one of the greatest vocalists of the 20th Century – but was not familiar with the song. I asked my father “What is that song?!“, and he told me it was called “Nature Boy”. My father was himself still a teen when the song came out in March 1948. It was a massive hit, spending eight weeks at #1 on the Billboard number-one singles chart from May to July 1948.
The song has a rather interesting back story. It was written in 1947 by a man named eden ahbez. Originally born George Alexander Aberle in Brooklyn, NY in 1908, one of 13 children in a poor family, he spent his early childhood in an orphanage. He was eventually adopted at the age of nine by a family in Kansas and raised under the name George McGrew. During the 1930s, McGrew lived in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was a pianist and dance band leader. He moved to Los Angeles in 1941 and began playing piano at a small health food store/raw food restaurant on Laurel Canyon Boulevard owned by John and Vera Richter, who followed the German Naturmensch and Lebensreform philosophies of veganism and living with nature. Their followers, who came to be known as “nature boys”, wore long hair and beards and ate only raw fruits and vegetables, and were precursors to what would later be called hippies. McGrew changed his name to “eden ahbez”, spelling his name with lower-case letters because he believed only the words “God” and “Infinity” were worthy of capitalization.
Some years later, while living in a cave near Palm Springs, ahbez wrote “Nature Boy”. The song was semi-autobiographical, but also partly a tribute to his mentor Bill Pestor, another Naturmensch advocate who was known locally as “the Hermit of Palm Springs”. ahbez wanted Nat “King” Cole to record the song, and went to see him one night while Cole was performing at the Lincoln Theater in Los Angeles. Cole’s manager refused to talk with him, however, ahbez managed to leave his sheet music for “Nature Boy” with Cole’s valet, but neglected to include his contact information. Cole loved the song, and began performing it at shows, but couldn’t record it as a single without ahbez’s permission. ahbez was finally tracked down living in a shack under the Hollywood sign, and soon found himself at the center of a media frenzy after “Nature Boy” became a #1 hit. His curious story was covered simultaneously in Life, Time and Newsweek magazines during the summer of 1948, and he finally got the chance to meet Cole during the television show We The People. (Bryan Thomas, Night Flight)
ahbez and Cole in 1948 (source unknown)
The song was recorded by Cole in August 1947, backed by an orchestra conducted by Frank De Vol, the in-house arranger of Capitol Records. Also a legend in his own right, De Vol went on to write and conduct soundtracks for numerous films (Pillow Talk, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hush…Hush…Sweet Charlotte, Cat Ballou, The Dirty Dozen) and TV shows (Family Affair, Gidget, The Brady Bunch, My Three Sons). For “Nature Boy”, De Vol used lush strings and flute to create the beautiful enchanting soundscape that makes the song so indelible. The gorgeous fluttering notes of the flute evoke sounds of birds singing in a Shangri-La setting. The track’s arrangement is absolute perfection, and the piano keys are stunning as well. And of course, Cole’s famed velvety-smooth vocals are captivating as he croons the poetic lyrics that are simple but profound:
There was a boy A very strange, enchanted boy They say he wandered very far Very far, over land and sea A little shy and sad of eye But very wise was he
And then one day A magic day he passed my way And while we spoke of many things Fools and kings This he said to me The greatest thing you’ll ever learn Is just to love and be loved in return
Cole eventually considered “Nature Boy” one of his favorite recordings, and the song helped give him crossover appeal to white audiences. In his book, The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire, author Ted Gioia noted that all the musicians “who had created the golden age of American popular song had their quirks and idiosyncrasies, but eden ahbez demands pride and place as the most eccentric of them all“. He added that, in addition to promoting the hippie culture, with “Nature Boy”, ahbez enabled Cole to be instrumental in introducing a new era of black artists in an industry dominated by white popular music. (Wikipedia)
The song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, a special Grammy Award honoring recordings that are at least 25 years old and have “qualitative or historical significance”. I think it’s a masterpiece, and one of the greatest songs ever written.
Two weeks ago, one of my favorite British bands IAMWARFACE released their latest single “Fear the Future“, an outstanding song that speaks to the general dumbing down of society by media and our politicians, and the mind-controlling enslavement we allow them to foist upon us. The hard-hitting track delivers the signature bombastic instrumentals and electrifying vocals of front man Matt Warneford we’ve come to love from this amazing band. In addition Warneford, the band includes Lou Matthews (guitars), Tom Howe (DJ synth), Mike Smith (bass) and Adam Stanley (drums). You can read my review here.
Now they release a very dark and provocative video for the song that’s one of the more chilling I’ve seen in a long while, playing out like a scene from a horror film. The graphic and disturbing imagery is brilliantly filmed and executed, with some great computer-generated effects, and the creepy make-up of the demon figure is perfect. The video was written and produced by Warneford, and filmed by Yohan Forbes of Kumo Films, who co-directed it with Warneford. Editing was done by Forbes and Tom Howe, and the two actors are Dean Rose and Nick Foster.
The action takes place in a TV show played on an old portable television set, and portrays a man (Nick) coming home to his apartment from work, then creating yet another in a series of drawings he’s made of geometric shapes with colored felt pens. After he pins it to the wall, he goes to the bathroom to wash his face and hands, at which point a ghoulish demon appears behind him, though Nick cannot see him. Warneford explained the intended meaning he attempts to capture in the video:
“So, you have Deanmon and Nick. They are both the same person, but Deanmon is the frustrated artistic part of Nick’s psyche, almost like he’s trying to warn Nick about all the shit he’s watching on the TV, the lifestyle he’s living, the general British yob* culture type stuff, beer drinking oik, etc. It’s also about mental health as well, as you could say that Deanmon is the sane part of Nick’s mind, and Nick has basically lost the plot. It’s kind of left up to the viewer to decide so it’s kind of ambiguous. Deanmon is getting more and more frustrated until he purges and gives up. Then the door knocks and it’s me standing there with an axe coming to finish the job. Also, that could be a metaphor for me coming along to take an axe to the banal music industry as it currently stands, but that’s a bit pretentious lol.”
Watch this incredible video and heed the warning at the beginning!
* ‘Yob culture’ is a slang term used in the UK, Australia and New Zealand to refer to a loutish, uncultured person, while ‘oik’ is a derogatory term for an uncouth person.
ECLECTIC MUSIC LOVER 