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Music

The Video for "Act One" by Invisible Familiars Is a Strange Kind of Purgatory

The music might be mellow but the visuals will creep you out.

Sonically, "Act One" is soothing—psych-pop grooves as if played in the summer heat—unhurried and slightly somnambulant with boy-girl harmonies that swirl together to create new tones that tickle the ears. Headed up by NYC-based musician, Jared Samuel (who's performed with everyone from Yoko Ono to Sharon Jones to Martha Wainwright), Invisible Familars' bent is timeless pop songwriting with a splash of 60s reverbed free love. It's no wonder that he's not only played with Sean Lennon's Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger outfit, but also that the other half of GOASTT, singer/bassist Charlotte Kemp Muhl, directed the video for "Act One" (premiering above).

In many, ways the video is the exact opposite of the song: it's unsettling, creepy, and Lynch-like. Are we in purgatory? Is this hell? Is hell a place where cake is complemented by wriggling worms and a man plays a keytar to infinity and beyond? Maybe. What's the ultimate message, man? That if you're running like a hamster in a wheel, reliving a single moment again and again and again, it might be time to let go.

Invisible Familiars Tour Dates April 15 - Los Angeles, CA @ Harvard & Stone
April 25 - Hudson, NY @ 24 Hour Dronefest - Basilica Hudson
April 26 - Brooklyn, NY @ Braincave Festival - Baby's All Right
May 2 - New Paltz, NY @ Snug Harbor
June 4 - Brooklyn, NY @ Robert Wyatt Tribute (organized by WNYC's David Garland) - Roulette
June 13 - Brooklyn, NY @ Northside Festival - Union Pool
June 17 - Brooklyn, NY @ Shea Stadium

Disturbing Wildlife is out now on Other Music Recording Company.

Kim Taylor Bennett is learning to let go and she's on Twitter.