Video: Tamaryn, ‘Fits of Rage’

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Tamaryn (Photo by Gina Canavan)
Tamaryn (Photo by Gina Canavan)

So when is Tamaryn headlining Desert Daze and slushing the good mud at Glastonbury? In a town musically over-saturated in all directions (speaking now of L.A.), the mononymous singer-songwriter (née Tamaryn Brown, originally from the other magic green island nation of New Zealand) is definitely a critical darling of shoegaze/dream-goth, but after 10 years she’s still in many ways underground.

That could change with the March 22 release of her fourth album, “Dreaming The Dark,” and her spring and summer tour plans that follow. After performing in last November’s Cloak & Dagger festival, Tamaryn (who also opened for Lush on what became their final reunion tour in 2016 and toured China’s four major cities last year) will be one of seven artists embarking on the first Mexico City edition of Cloak & Dagger before making her way back to headline the Echoplex in April. After that, she will be sharing a bill with the likes of Nitzer Ebb and the Gitane Demone Quartet at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen (that’s German for Wave-Gothic-Meeting) in Leipzig in June.

The new album, produced by and co-written with Jorge Elbrecht (Ariel Pink, Frankie Rose, Wild Nothing, Gang Gang Dance), was introduced with the shimmery, self-directed video — the first in a series of “archetype dramas” — for her Slowdive-ish first single, “Fits of Rage.” Tamaryn stars as a reverse Queen of Swords who has given into her fury, while snaking throughout is performer V.V.Venom as the High Priestess from the Tarot, bringing out repressed anger and getting the singer back in touch with her inner self, balancing the light and the dark.

“The video is about anger, obsession and transformation,” she said, deciding on a low-fi feel to focus on the symbolism and emotion, “I shot it in a warehouse in downtown L.A. and wanted it to feel like a pretty DIY set. I wanted the magical elements to be grounded by the theatrical props and dirty floors.” In the end, Kris Esfandiari (King Woman, Miserable) makes a cameo as “the demonic gatekeeper … or like ‘The Hunger’-type vampire depending on your mood,” seducing the singer into the underworld.

Got blood?

||| Watch: The video for “Fits of Rage”

||| Live: Tamaryn headlines the Echoplex on April 26. Tickets.

||| Previously: Live at the Fonda Theatre, Hands All Over Me, Cranekiss, Skirball headline, Now Stream This 2012, SXSW 2011