When most people speak about death, it’s usually in terms of the end, as closure; rarely is it spoken about as an escape. There’s grief in both, of course, although they stem from separate sources and wreak different kinds of emotional havoc. Since his father passed from a heart attack in 2008, bedroom-pop songwriter Patrick Brick, aka Futo, has been consumed and fascinated by the idea of death and the feelings of anguish and sorrow that have continued to linger. When the attack first set in, his father was kept alive for a short period through CPR, and Futo’s latest album, the eleven-song In Heaven, All My Jokes Will Kill, is in essence an extended meditation on those stolen moments. “I was not present for this luckily, but that minute or so of sustained time between being alive and dead is something that I have thought about ever since, and [it’s] the basis of the album,” Brick explains. “Essentially it is a concept album tracking the progress of thought while dying.”

As the lead track from the LP, “In Heaven (Acoustic Cover)” conveys a dark and brooding tone. Set to the lonely strains of a softly strummed acoustic, the song traces the existential despair of wasting away in an office cubicle, and the half-hearted relationships that can consume life as a corporate drone. Faced with endless crushing tedium, the idea of dying begins to acquire a more acceptable aura, and when Brick sings “In heaven, all my jokes will kill / My body becomes pure light / My shit neighbor isn’t there / And I’m alone for the first time” in the song’s final verse, it’s difficult to read it as anything but a welcome relief.

Animated by Cait Robinson, the video mirrors the track’s looming sadness by depicting a solitary office worker going through the motions of their day-to-day drudgery. Even through birthday celebrations and sips of morning coffee, the empty expressions and dead-eye stare remains the same, and the video concludes without so much as hint of possible redemption or relief. Overall, it’s an immensely grim and depressing work, but one that Brick is proud to share.

“I provided some basic ideas and color schemes that I wanted to be included and then left it to [Robinson] to do the rest,” he says. “I am incredibly pleased with the final product and am also quite glad that I didn’t try to insert my own vision for the video, because I honestly just don’t trust my eye for physical or visual work.”

Watch/listen above.

In Heaven, All My Jokes Will Kill is available now via Marching Banana Records.

Futo will perform on Mon., June 11 on the Georgia Theatre Rooftop alongside S.M. Wolf and Lavender Holyfield. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is FREE. 21+ to enter.

More Info
Bandcamp: futo.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @Futo42069
Instagram: @patrickfrick74