Terry Poison's Video for "Man After Man" is Bizzaro in the Best Way

Tel Aviv trio release a video that raises such pertinent questions as "Is that Tilda Swinton? How many layers us too many layers?" There's more surreal strangeness where that came from...

by Kim Taylor Bennett

April 7, 2014, 6:23pm

Sometimes I'll come across a video that I genuinely don't know what to make of. Questions like who, what, why, and uh, floated up as I watched this promo for "Man After Man" by Tel Aviv trio Terry Poison. Like, is that Tilda Swinton? Or Lady Gaga's long lost sister? How many layers is too many layers? (#TheArtOfLayering) Where can I get lampshades like that for my apartment? Is my apartment too small for such lampshades? (Yes.) Why aren't more pop people this theatrical?

In general Terry Poison—that's Louise Kahn, Anna Landesman, and Idan "Bruno" Grife—make glittery electro-pop, but on "Man After Man" they get synthy and slow, while their visual collaboration with French director Simon Birman is appropriately strange. Shot in a rare early 20th century Art Deco apartment over the course of 12 snatched hours, according to Terry Poison everything about the partnership and production fell into place like magic: the silk sea creature inspired lamps were courtesy of Aqua Gallery, while art director Ben Shalom Davidi decked out the space with wood and greenery "to create a surreal, futuristic, yet natural scenario where the story would unfold."

The trio also had this to add: "The most crucial part of this video was the cloths and styling—prepared by our in-house designer Ben Zeiger. We wanted one look of many layers of cloths and textures morphed between the three of us as if we were getting dressed and undressed from the same garments, keeping an underlying idea of getting ready for something, whether it was to get dressed or undressed. We weren't really sure how it would work or if it would work at all until we started editing everything together. We are still not sure if this idea comes through, but it doesn't matter we really just love the aesthetics and the movements and it serves the song and the lyrics perfectly."

Sidenote about those lyrics. In one part of the song TP sing: "Here comes the man/The man is here," which really reminds me of my goddaughter Sylvie. When she was about four-years-old she used to live with her mom up in the north of England, in a neat little terraced house. Sometimes Sylvie would go into her room and her mom would stop by to check on her, or tuck her in bed at night, or just say hi and Sylvie would say: "Mummy, the man is here." This went on over the course of a period of months, and there was never a man anywhere in the house. Was Sylvie having an "I see dead people" moment? Fully freaky.

Anyway! Here are some behind the scenes shots from the video.