Image
Video Premiere

Jason Priest Endures Emotional Whiplash With “Strangers”

As the second single on For Your Consideration, Jason Priest’s “Strangers” is an upbeat, anthemic puzzle piece to the protagonist’s story. Priest (the alter ego of maestro Antoni Maiovvi), a struggling musician, is facing an existential crisis as he reflects on misspent years of his youth—all while losing hold of reality. “Strangers,” tinged in melancholy, could fit beside 1980s coldwave progenitors such as Turquoise Days or Little Nemo with its speedy beat and sorrowful melody. With its quick paced tempo, the song is a whiplash of emotions as it barrels through epic choruses and raw breakdowns—with “Strangers,” Priest bares it all.

Directed by Sam Wisternoff, the video for “Strangers” is soaked in an analog neon glow and replete with Barbie Dolls. But don’t be alarmed, there’s nothing too childlike about the video. Priest notes:

The video for Strangers is what would happen if Todd Haynes (Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story) made ‘The Comfort Of Strangers’ instead of celebrated weirdo Paul Schrader (Cat People / American Gigolo) with a soundtrack performed by members of Kiss Me-era Cure, XTC and The Human League.

Based on the 1990 film starring Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson and Helen Mirren, this particular tale of fluid sexuality, obsession and murder set in the romantic streets of Venice seems to fit right into the meta-narrative of the Jason Priest project, a world where all characters are cryptic expression of the writer.

Watch the video below.

Buy For Your Consideration via Bandcamp. Listen on Spotify.

Follow Jason Priest (Antoni Maiovvi) on IG and Twitter.

 

Andi Harriman

Andi Harriman is the author of "Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace: The Worldwide Compendium of Postpunk and Goth in the 1980s." She resides in Brooklyn, New York where she writes, DJs and lectures on all things dark and gloomy.

Recent Posts

  • Bands

Toronto Shoegazers Rituals Debut Hazy Post-Punk Single “Illusions”

Toronto shoegaze outfit Rituals first stirred to life in 2009, a quiet experiment in Adam Seward’s small, dim room, where…

16 hours ago
  • Bands

Filled with Fire — Swiss Cold Wavers Future Faces Unveil Video for “Neon Outlines”

Filled with fire Come to me Suspended with so much pleasure No matter how scared we may be To live…

17 hours ago
  • Bands

Starlight Star Bright — Icelandic Trio Kælan Mikla Pull Down the Veil of Night in Their Video for “Stjörnuljós”

Be a starlight once more that guides me in the dead of night and when your fire weakens I shall…

2 days ago
  • Bands

Qual Unleashes Sci-Fi Apocalyptic Video for Primal EBM Jam “Funeral Fashion”

Sarcophagus golden carcass Sarcophagus rigor mortis Drenched in cataclysm and curled in dystopian dread, Qual—William Maybelline’s fierce alter ego—seizes the…

3 days ago
  • Bands

Los Angeles Duo Faith In Flesh Inject Chilling EBM and Darkwave into Their Unsettling Video for “Psychodermatology”

Skin sloughed off Exposed rot Sickness spied Wet, weak eyes Lacerated soul Psychodermatology is a medical field that studies the…

3 days ago
  • Bands

Philadelphia’s Cigarettes for Breakfast Prescribe Heartrending Shoegaze Panacea “Numb the Pain”

Loving something you shouldn’t is like clutching a live wire—painful, charged, and impossible to release. You know it’s wrong, yet…

4 days ago
Sticky Footer Banner with Close Button