In many ways, Faun and a Pan Flute’s music is about navigating alien terrain, about taking familiar musical frameworks like jazz, folk, prog and psyche rock, and bending and distorting them into new patterns and foreign shapes. The Atlanta collective’s new video for “John” plays into that concept, first immersing the viewer in a natural world made otherworldly by the addition of a masked woman who fishes an old pair of scissors from the soil and later an amulet out of the water while three immense orbs rise in the the skyline behind her.
Directed by Derek King and Michael Wiley of Rock and Egg Productions — the same duo who’s brought us memorable videos by the likes of Small Reactions and Hello Ocho, as well as Little Tybee’s latest — the visuals work as part fever dream, part meat-grinding nightmarish fantasy. Whatever nods there were to the beauty and mystery of nature eventually dissipate as our veiled protagonist finds herself in a dark parking structure while orange utility cords burst from the floor and ceiling and sway menacingly around her like so many coiled cobras. From there we’re introduced to another masked figure, this time a man who proceeds to drop what appears to be raw cuts of beef into a meat grinder with increasing vehemence. The juxtaposition of the two performers — the hypnotic grace of the woman who leaps and dances away from danger and the savage intensity of the butcher — is made further alluring by the band’s adventurous arrangement, which shifts unpredictably from calm reverie to chaotic tumult. It’s a stunning merger of music and cinema, one that’s made only more compelling by repeated viewings. Watch it above.
“John” is taken from Faun and Pan Flute’s self-titled LP, available via Mission Trips.
Faun and a Pan Flute will perform this Saturday, August 1 at the Cleaners as part of Lakewoodstock. Doors open at 4 p.m. Admission is FREE.
More Info
Web: faun-andapanflute.squarespace.com
Bandcamp: faunandapanflute.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @FaunandaPanFlute