By Mike Achille
December 2, 2020
Let me start out with the disclosure that I’m a South Shore kid. Bias be damned, I spent many nights standing around parking lots in Weymouth, Massachusetts within earshot of the clandestine Odd Fellows Recording Studio where Shawnie Brando (Brando, Bugs and Rats, KTB) recorded one of his more recent basement endeavors “For the Blind” under solo moniker Little Priest with Massachusetts legend Jerry MacDonald. Where previous (and subsequent) Little Priest recordings have touched on Brando’s history in the underground punk and noise scenes with harsh, wiry guitar snakes that cut through his 4-track funneled drum machine mashups and distinctive snarl, “For the Blind” takes on a more introspective tone. More an internally screamed “where the fuck am I going?!?” than an extroverted outburst of energy. This hypnotic, vocalless, post-whatever was destined for the video that has emerged to accompany "For the Blind" track “Mount Washington”. The droney, isolationist, anxiety-attack countdown feels more like it was written as the soundtrack to Tyler Hallett’s new beautifully surrealist video as opposed to Hallett partnering with Brando to visually represent the dreamlike composition which was released back in October. While you wait for an explosion that never comes, the crawling backbeat and central riff which feels like a musical recreation of Brando’s unique voice (noticeably absent) guide the viewer through Hallett’s 2020 interpretation of a mushroom fueled walk through the woods. A healthy dose of living deliberately permeates the video which sees Shawnie roaming the mountainside interspersed with a 90’s AV club mashup of static, VHS home movie interludes. Equal parts psychosis as seen through a kaleidoscope and the unspoken musings of a man on the edge, the video, much like Brando’s body of work, is the street art equivalent of an opera. Ponder it’s strangely coherent incoherence on the Boston Compass Blog where we at Brain Arts - longtime fans of all of the aforementioned characters - are proud to debut this cinematic representation of an exploded spray paint can.
— Mike Achille
Check out the video premiere here!
Комментарии