I saw this animated music video and got kind of excited since a) it is stop motion and cutout animation, which is like catnip to me, b) it uses medical imagery, and c) the little girl reminded me of Henry Darger’s paintings and Alice in Wonderland. The song is In the Morning by Alec K. Redfearn and The Eyesores and is off their 7th album, Sister Death, released yesterday on Cuneiform Records. Orion Rigel Dommisse plays organ and sings in the band, and is a skeptic, musician, and animator. Damn Gina, that is a lot of skills!
The song is dirge-like and beautiful with lovely harmonies. The girl is in a sleep lab (oh, can I ever tell you how much it sucks to have a sleep study) and is injected with something that affects her dreams. She is surrounded by giant mushrooms, chased by a fundus photograph that she finds in a plane wreckage, pursued through a palace, and then consumed by the fundus photo, Pac Man style. The blood animation is made with red paint, which I noticed Orion also used in this beautiful video for Marissa Nadler. All this happens while the lab tech observes the girl on a screen.
The cutout girl is from The Happy Surprise, a book from 1952; which Orion tells me is the same era when Darger used to make tracings from children’s books.
I will have to listen to this the morning after a night of insomnia!
Photo Credit: Alison Jean
