What the hell happened here? There is something strange about the murder-mystery visuals of this video set to the bedhead soul of Jarrod Quarrell’s Lost Animal project. It’s like all of those slow-motion, cinematic war scenes juxtaposed with soft classical music: each draws the opposite emotion out of the other. So, when those piano chords and tropical percussion shake out as the dead man on the couch is shoved into that huge bag used for holding bedding and left to rot in the woods, the song (seemingly about piecing together some kind of broken relationship) takes on a distinctly shadowy quality, as the scenes of overgrown forests, empty beaches, and some kind of modeling studio afterlife are presented in bright daylight. It’s all unexpected, and the same could be said about Lost Animal’s Ex Tropical, tossing a number of island-vibe styles against Quarrell’s tired take on soul. The result is certainly something close to what I would think of ex-tropical, like a man who has known sunlight, warmth, and happiness, and has never stopped seeking to re-obtain it.
Ex Tropical was released on Sensory in Australia, and will see its US release January 29 on Seattle’s Hardly Art.
• Lost Animal: http://us.myspace.com/lostanimal76
• Hardly Art: http://www.hardlyart.com
• Sensory: http://sensoryprojects.com.au
More about: Lost Animal
