Dusted’s cinematic “Dead Eyes” video offers a tale of acceptance and understanding through an unexpectedly eventful funeral.
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The dead may not speak for the living, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a story to tell: Dusted’s cinematic “Dead Eyes” music video offers a tale of acceptance and understanding through an unexpectedly eventful funeral.
Dead eyes, they got nothing left inside.
That doesn’t mean
they got nothing to hide.
That doesn’t mean
they got nothing to hide.
Say that you can never tell a lie.
Doesn’t mean you can tell what is right.
Doesn’t mean you can tell what is right.
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering the music video for “Dead Eyes,” off Dusted’s sophomore album Blackout Summer (released April 6th on Polyvinyl Record Co. / Royal Mountain Records). The solo project for Brian Borcherdt of electronic group Holy Fuck, Dusted twists our traditional view of the singer/songwriter on its head, offering a provocative, intimate alternative full of warmth, nuanced texture, and subdued color. With hypnotic vocals and a melancholy, clouded texture, “Dead Eyes” uses a tale of the dead to tell a tale of the living.
Borcherdt describes “Dusted” as “about being denied something so long that you turn around and deny someone the exact same thing. A ‘see how it feels‘ kind of reversal of power. But also a cautionary tale of how to not make the same mistakes. It was written five or six years ago so not really about anything specific in our current culture. Just some omnipresent mood — smash the status quo.”
That’s all I… ever used to get.
And that’s all I… give to you.
Divide, did it already pass you by?
Never too late to decide.
Never too late to decide.
Directed by William Wilkinson, the “Dead Eyes” music video is beautifully provocative. “Dusted’s wistful, hypnotic song inspired us to tell a story of acceptance: Sometimes we receive the greatest love and loyalty not from our own blood kin but, instead, from our closest friends,” Wilkinson explains. “Drawing inspiration from Tim & Eric, Lynch, and our two favourite Andersons, no detail was too small, no mistake not worth fixing. We committed to completely reshooting the first scene after realizing what we originally captured didn’t suit the movement of the music, replacing 30 separate shots with 3 long, dynamic, precisely choreographed takes. Our journey toward completing the film was, in a way, its own story of acceptance – coming to terms with what we wanted it to be, making peace with how it turned out, and setting it out to sea.”
Daylight dissolves into night.
It doesn’t mean you’re gonna make it right.
It doesn’t mean you’re gonna make it right.
You get used to it.
That’s all I… ever used to get.
And that’s all I… give to you
We watch as an intimate, family-led open casket funeral is interrupted by the dearly departed’s friends. After a scuffle with the family, they wrestle the casket away from the church, and drive their friend down to the water, where they give him a proper sendoff – the goodbye he would have wanted, we assume.
“I love the heart that these characters display – it’s a perfect contrast to the routine funeral we are introduced to off the top,” Brian Borcherdt says. “I laughed so many times out loud when I first watched the story unfold but it was the small gestures that kept me coming back. I feel so moved by the love they show their fallen comrade. For instance Claw-Hand-Man puts his hat to his heart after driving the dead body to the sea. He doesn’t follow the procession but stands guard by the getaway car and sends this final heartfelt gesture. It’s really touching; they loved this person so much.”
Dusted’s “Dead Eyes” video is a perfect and powerful visual companion to an already meaningful song. A poignant, vivid send-off, “Dead Eyes” truly feels filmic, encapsulating a majestically absurd scene with incredible detail. Stream “Dead Eyes,” exclusively on Atwood Magazine! Dusted’s sophomore album Blackout Summer is out now!
It doesn’t mean you’re gonna make it right.
Are you on the other side?
That’s all I… used to see of the light.
And that’s all I give to you.
Watch: “Dead Eyes” – Dusted
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:: stream/purchase Blackout Summer here ::
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? © William Wilkinson
