Underground hip-hop artist Aesop Rock released an electric new video for his single “Coveralls.” The song is from his most recent album Spirit World Field Guide, which was released on November 13. The “Coveralls” videos is the third installment in an ongoing visual narrative that of which were produced by Rob Shaw and feature illustrations from Justin “Coro” Kaufman, according to a press release. “The Gates” and “Pizza Alley” were the first two installments in the series.
Aesop Rock, who is already known for being expressive through his lyrics, has taken it to another level in making the videos for the series that is currently still ongoing. The artist uses bright colors, drawings, abstract images and anecdotal narrations to help him tell a story. The videos that correspond with the songs off of the new album serve hallucinogenic imagery to help dive into a deep narrative.
One especially common theme found among the three music videos is that Aesop Rock is shown as a face figure lip syncing the lyrics. “The Gates” shows him as bright colored drawing of an animal. He starts off as a deer and transitions to other animals as the video goes along. “Pizza Alley” shows him as what appears to be the head of a ghost floating in the woods. Lastly, “Coveralls” shows him as an electronically created masked face.
As shown in the beginning of the story, “Coveralls” also features a young girl who stumbled along a fictional world with a friend. However, the manic images this time are shown through a phone screen. The eery feeling that was introduced in the first two videos of the series still lingers through the “Coveralls” video. Unsettling images are presented to the young girl on the phone screen which leave her looking confused and uneasy.
The hip-hop artist is taking his creative talent to the next level with his recent album and is broadening them even more so with the narrative series he has started to create. Aside from his album, Aesop Rock released an animated music video for his song “Drums on Wheels” earlier this year, which was featured on the Freedom Finger soundtrack.
While the release date for the next installment of Aesop Rock’s visual narrative series has not yet been released, it’s no secret that fans have high hopes for what abstract creative tactics the hip-hop artist will use to help continue to paint his fictional overall narrative.
Photo Credit: Brett Padelford
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