Dark alternative rock band A Primitive Evolution released their new album Becoming about a two years ago on Metropolis. The band’s sound draws influence from many of the darkest corners of the music world including industrial, hard-rock, goth, shoegaze and metal. Of course, there’s plenty of pop melodies and experimental textures in their sound that make their sound extremely accessible, as heard on the new song “Ghost.” Today we’re premiering the beautifully-shot cinematic-style music video for the song.
As the title would suggest, the song’s content deals with the afterlife and losing someone important. The video matches the mood of the song, being set in an desolate, abandoned farm. In fact, the title screen sets the stage for what could almost be considered a short film – “Several Years Since The Desolation.” With the wind whistling through the expansive forest around the farm, the scene focuses in on bassist Steph Misayo Seki trying to find a signal on an old analog radio with no success. As the camera pans away, we see a barren human skeleton next to her.
The song opens with an atmospheric, The Edge-esque guitar riff and lead singer Brett Carruthers’ singing in a hushed tone. As the song progresses through the first verse, he appears in the video, sitting besides a vintage car playing a beat up acoustic guitar. “Ghost” continues to add musical elements as it progresses and after a few minutes has morphed from an sparse arrangement to a shoegaze-inspired wall of sound with distorted guitars, a shuffling drum beat from Stu Dead and moody synth tones. The song maintains this dynamic between quiet and loud, though the most intense portion of the song comes at the end when the trio launch into an extended jam, moving into a more hard-rock inspired sound with Carruthers concluding the passage with a fiery guitar solo.
“‘Ghost’ was a song we took a chance on,” said Carruthers. “We’d never written an epic long piece like this before and it really helped seal the album together for us. I wrote this song when I was having a lot of dreams of my father who we lost when I was 14. Funny how certain years these ‘ghosts’ seem to come back and haunt you. Often times you almost feel as though they’re communicating with you or something along those lines. It’s a really beautiful moment where you feel like you’re with them again, the disappointment is waking up to reality.”
The video, which is artfully done, was directed by Terra Joy McNerthney and produced by Bailey Northcott. Northcott has collaborated with the band in the past, doing photoshoots and helping with previous videos.
“Didn’t know at the time of shooting that we would be all wearing masks when it was released,” said Carruthers. “Steph pushed to have her character masked because we loved this hooded mask piece by Nathalia Gaviria and it suited the ost-apocalyptic vibe of the production.”
Becoming was recorded at A Primitive Evolution’s own Desolation Studios in Toronto with the help of writer/producer Ian D’Sa (Billy Talent) and Audio Engineer Kenny Luong (Cancer Bats/Metric).
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