Like the color black, post-punk is perenially fashionable. And why not? It’s sleek, stylish, serious, and grim all at once. It’s the sort of music teenage kids can build an identity around, while older listeners continue to find meaning and escape within its looming shadows. The Cure, the Smiths, Joy Division—they all became legacy artists on the strength of monumentally great music. But what makes them iconic is their ability to inspire a lifestyle, a wardrobe, an entirely new way of looking at the world.
Named after an old movie rental store in their hometown of Athens, Vision Video is a new goth-pop group that taps into this ethos. They are fronted by singer and guitarist Dustin Gannon who served in the army in Afghanistan and is now an Athens firefighter and Georgia Theatre bartender. His earnest vocals and brooding presence give the music a feeling of solemn purpose. Buried within his melodic croon is an implicit understanding that life can be sublime, but more often than not it’s dark and harrowing.
New single “In My Side” is a shimmery pop number reminiscent of early Cure. As goth anthems go, it’s not so much about staring at the void as it is dancing the pain away. The band, which is rounded out by bassist Dan Geller (I Am the World Trade Center, Booty Boyz), keyboardist Emily Fredock, and drummer Jason Fusco (Shehehe), plays with a loose and radiant energy that provides a warm counter to Gannon’s icy demeanor and morbid lyrics.
“[This] is a song I wrote about the experience of love gone wrong,” says Gannon. “It’s an exploration of the concept of knowing that someone is horrible for you, yet you can’t stop turning to them, and how that tends to make one lean into feelings of panic, fear, and uncertainty, but maybe also excitement. I framed this under the veneer of imagery of being chased by a murderer, which also pays homage to my fandom of ’80s slasher and horror flicks.”
Listen below.
Vision Video’s debut full length will arrive sometime later this year.
More Info
Facebook: @visionvideoband
Instagram: @visionvideoband
SoundCloud: @vision-video