Darkwave Artist Oliver Marson Satirizes 1980s Hyper-Capitalism in his Video for “Manipulator”

I can feel my head on the guillotine
forced to watch whilst everybody gets involved
aint it funny how they fall like dominos?

Oliver Marson is ready to tear down the Establishment, one elegant note at a time. The Londoner debuts his satirical video for Manipulator, taking the good-old-fashioned punk sensibilities of The Clash and sentiments of rap artists like Danny Brown…and wrapping it in a cloak of crooning, baroque pop more akin in style to Divine Comedy, Spector, and Magnetic Fields, with a little Drab Majesty guitar work tossed in for good measure.  His targets: Boris Johnson; propaganda; failure to revolt.  Marson’s gorgeous voice, whose resonance is inspired by aural avant-garde auteur Scott Walker, belts out a string of disdain for the 24/7 news machine whipping people into violence and submission.

“This is ludicrous music for ludicrous times and satire for life in late capitalism,” explains Marson.

The cinematic video was filmed by Marson and his sister Chantal around Canary Wharf and in an unused office.

“The first line of the song and overarching message is that ‘we’re sleepwalking with the loonies at the wheel’ and we tried to get across this in the video through me playing a dodgy Wall Street banker. Obvious influences being American Psycho, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Wall Street, and A Shock to the System. I enjoyed very much performing as this campy character, it was fun and I loved the DIY approach we took to filming it.”

Watch the video below:

The track was mixed by Jorge Elbrecht (Tamaryn) and features Christina Lopez (Lava la rue, Empathy Test) on drums, Charles Cave (White Lies) on bass, and backup vocals from Maya Harrisson (For Breakfast).

You can pre-save it here.

Marson is a jack of all trades in the music scene, dissecting both pop music and the dark societal underbelly with inspiration from Serge Gainsbourg, David Bowie, and the sinister stylings of Lee Hazlewood. Previously, Marson covered “Goin’ Out West” by Tom Waits, a sinister take on the classic with the same wit and invention.

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