A traipse through the darkened wooded landscape of Forbidden Drive in Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Valley Park sets the gloomy scene for the mystical, mysterious “Fall In Fall In (All Down The Well),” the third single and closing track from Veda Rays’ second LP, Crucial Fictions.
Folk horror elements and occult references have been a part of Veda Rays’ visual repertoire from the beginning, but this video is their most ambitious undertaking yet. Amongst the local folklore telling of ghostly sightings around the park, one of the most notable is the story of hermit Johannes Kelpius, a 17th-century German pietist who dwelled in the woods with his brethren, awaiting the end times. Kelpius’ alleged cave, one of many landmarks along the trail, does not appear in the video, but a foreboding-looking spring house does.
Kelpius and his followers, seeking the religious freedom offered in the New World, lived in the valley of the Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia from 1694 until his death in 1708. It is reported that they lived communally, though they also spent time in solitary meditation in caves and small cells. His cult, known as The Hermits or Mystics of the Wissahickon, searched the stars while hoping for the end. Kelpius, a musician himself, has inspired gothic artists throughout the centuries. With “Fall In Fall In (All Down The Well),” Veda Rays joins the ranks of poet John Greenleaf Whittier and novelist George Lippard in their homages to Kelpius.
Was this supported beyond the veil?
“We had some strange technical difficulties when entering the trail, the cause of which may likely have been a trickster forest spirit (which may or may not make an appearance early in the video),” admits the band.
Interior scenes were filmed in the band’s apartment, intercutting and emphasizing the spiritual in the forest scenes. The forest scenes also hint at something more ominous, as evidenced by the quick glimpses of a scythe-wielding hooded figure in front of the aforementioned spring house. Coupled with the track’s trance-inducing pacing and hypnotic repetition of the bell-like keyboard line, the band creates a perfect ritual space for the delivery of James Stark’s shaman-turned-cult leader invocations.
Watch the video for “Fall In Fall In (All Down The Well)”, below:
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