Altered Zones

Everyone from Edie Sedgwick to Britney Spears will tell you that the life of luxury can be a trap. Sometimes having it all means nothing; in this new video for New York's Psychic Reality, artists Ben Shearn and Amanda Brown (LA Vampires) find inspiration in this truth. The central figure is a glamorous woman of antiquity. She is part Cleopatra, part Kenneth Anger glamazon. Although her every whim is catered to, she is alone in her menagerie, and transfixed by the native fruits. The song, a half-cover of Abel Meeropol's condemnation of American racism, takes on a new life when filtered through Leyna Noel's Bjork-like croon over a haunting house beat. According to Leyna, the band selected this "loaded quote to frame a discussion about gender, desire, organic/inorganic sensuality, and ways of living on the earth." It certainly takes guts to use a song about lynching in such a way, but in this glamorous setting, dramatic irony runs amok. (Visitation Rites co-premiere)

Vibrant New Age LP is out this month on Not Not Fun