Video: Collapsing Scenery, ‘The Grey Cardinal’

on
0
Collapsing Scenery (Photo by Rick Rodney)

The video for Collapsing Scenery’s “The Grey Cardinal” uses a woman’s debaucherous adventures in Las Vegas as an allegory for the song’s political intentions.

The bicoastal duo of Don De Vore and Reggie Debris, whose debut full-length “Stress Positions” came out last year, backgrounds the song:

“‘The Grey Cardinal’ is a nickname for Vladislav Surkov, the architect of the modern Russian propaganda machine. His tactics, largely derived from his background in experimental theater, essentially boil down to creating a thicket of confusion and mistrust out of which a strong leader can emerge and provide a sense of stability and solidity. The miasma of chaos and obfuscation is created in part by developing and/or supporting opposing groups of activists. … The song is a meditation on how these ideas and tactics have proliferated across the modern political landscape and exploded with the prevalence of online news and web based communities, as well as a sort of abstract character study of Surkov himself, an eminently fascinating demon of modern discourse (or lack thereof).”

The video, directed by Mads Jensen, features Jensen, Ashley Cahill, Z Berg, Nick Hinman, Leila Spilman, Charlotte Ritchie, Keon Casmi and Jonathan Small, suggests we all might be too distracted by our own hedonism to confront the true evil standing right in front of us.

If that indeed is the takeaway, it’s another theatrical episode in Collapsing Scenery’s book of political and societal horrors. Ever since their formation six-plus years ago, the duo has used its music — a blend of techno, post-punk and darkwave using foreboding vocals with analog tools — as just one artistic tool to paint bleak portraits of the state of the world.

The album features collaborations with diverse artists such as U.K. grime artist Jammz, Palestinian hip-hop group DAM and L.A. goth-pop artist Tamaryn. The band also has remixes out or on the way from the late Genesis P-Orridge (“Sisyphus of the Negev”), Jennifer Herrema of Royal Trux), Uniform, Youth Code and Brian DeGraw of Gang Gang Dance.

Enjoy this night in Vegas.

||| Watch: The video for “The Grey Cardinal”

||| Also: Watch the video for “Queen of Proofs”

||| Also: Stream “Stress Positions” in its entirety

||| Previously: Live at the Lodge Room, “Bush Mama Blues,” “Straight World Problems”