GHOST IN THE MACHINE

to tell the truth
i am none to keen on the concept of the music video
for me the whole point of creating music
is to transport the listener to another world
one of their own imagining and emotions
inspired by but independent of the song itself
in this my ally is the twilight domain of metaphor
that shadowland of unpredictable images and emotions
working in tandem
with the emotional language of melody harmony and rhythm
i have no desire to bludgeon the listener over the head
with my own preconceived agenda
or to ram a message down his or her throat
there may be an underlying conscious intention for sure
but who knows what role that other levels of consciousness might play
in the conception incubation and birth
of the creative and performative process
in sharp contrast
the music video is liable to tell one what to think
to impose a narrative or relationship that does not really exist
it is a blunt blunt instrument
to one who paints pictures with sound
so why bother?
the simple answer is that it is the easiest and cheapest way to self-publish
to disseminate the fruits of one's labours to a wider audience
so i have been playing around with some freeware
and experimenting with simple stills
but there is a ghost somewhere in the machine
it was there at the end of lunatic driver
putting the climactic sequence of images oddly out of sync
now it strikes again at the beginning of automaton
where it cunningly transforms the first still
into an almost subliminal image
thereby sending the rest of the video a few seconds out of sync
the weird thing is
it actually works!
at least some of the time
the advancement of the images acts almost like a serendipitous syncopation
freeing up the connection between sound and image
inducing a disconcerting but pleasing dissonance
between the aural and the visual
perhaps the music video can occupy the same twilight zone as the music itself
perhaps that ghost needs to be embraced and nurtured