Bathe in the Ritualistic Horror of Darkswoon’s “Fireplace”

It’s been four months since we’ve checked on Portland, Oregon’s premiere post-punk/shoegaze band Darkswoon. Since the release of their debut LP Bind, the band has been growing their following and hard at work promoting the release with a series of high profile gigs. Most notably, a limited vinyl edition of Bind has just been released by Icy Cold Records, for those who prefer the physical medium.

With all of this in mind, we’re honored to premiere the dark and delicious new video for “Fireplace,” one of the LP’s standout tracks. Watch below:

The video, directed by Kameron Gates, is a subversive piece of ritualistic horror that finds the band on a road trip gone wrong, driving off into the wilderness as an unknown goat-like creature pursues the band. The track itself is layered with otherworldly texture and tension and the video follows suit, the menace growing by the time the band arrives at a desolated beach.

Despite the video’s inherent darkness, the band has some rather fun anecdotes to share regarding the experience:

“We cast Maria Thomas, who is an experimental dancer specializing in creature performance and stuntwork, to be our “monster”. She had a lot of good ideas of how she wanted to play the character, drawing on a folklore theme seen throughout history worldwide-that of the seductive creature luring people to their demise. We collectively decided that it should also rise up from the ground, like road kill or something of the earth. Kam and Jessie Hafer created the costume from a plastic mask and inexpensive materials (no animals harmed).