London post-industrial trio Decommissioned Forests share the new video for “Spectral Kleptomania (TRA Remix)”: the first new single and video from their forthcoming Industry Remixes album. ‘Spectral Kleptomania’ appeared earlier this year on the group’s sophomore album, Industry (April 2022), as a disquieting ambient-industrial track, in which the song’s narrator systematically catalogues their descent through early-onset dementia and the resulting mental distress. The new remix from The Resonance Association transforms the original into a psychedelic, groove-driven rock track, replete with searing lead guitars.
Formed in 2018, Decommissioned Forests are producer Daniel Vincent (The Resonance Association); experimental musician, filmmaker, and multimedia artist, Howard Gardner (Non-Bio, The Pillars of Golden Misery); and vocalist/narrator/industrial electro-punk musician, Max Rael (History of Guns, Raelism).
“One of the constraints we set on ourselves when creating Decommissioned Forests was that it should stand apart from our other work,” says Vincent. “In my case, that meant giving up guitars…The TRA mix of Spectral Kleptomania gave us the opportunity to reintroduce that missing element.”
The new video is a lo-fi collage culled from a video originally created by Rael, and deconstructed/reassembled by Vincent. The result is akin to the early audio-visual experiments of Throbbing Gristle, Coil, and Psychic TV, with nods to William S. Burroughs.
“I was thinking about persona and character, and wanting to become someone different from the character I played in ‘A Comforting Uncertainty,” says Rael.
Shooting hand-held footage on my phone, I donned a dark wig and glasses, and tried to develop a gradually shifting facial performance, moving from awkward expressions to something more smirking and conceited. The idea was that this shift in lowering self-consciousness matches the literal mental disintegration of the lyrics…Unfortunately, this didn’t quite work as planned. Daniel then took it apart, frame-by-frame, and reassembled it into a much more abstract, psychedelic colour strobing effect. I’m normally sensitive to light and prone to migraines, but weirdly, for all of its harsh tones and flashing chaos, I find it curiously calming and hypnotic.”
WARNING: This video contains flashing imagery.
The forthcoming Industry Remixes have been created largely “in house” by Decommissioned Forests and their members’ respective projects: The Resonance Association, History of Guns, Non-Bio, Raelism, and Daniel Vincent, along with guests Duncan Perry, Mox Salnikov, and Vincent’s TRA collaborator, Dominic Hemy.
Scheduled for release on 21 November, the Industry Remixes can be pre-ordered from Bandcamp now.
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