In the Cacophany and Surreal Imagery of Kopper’s Video for “Fading Fires” We See a Psychologically Violent Artistic Reinvention Come to Pass

Kopper1_crop — Kopper, photo courtesy the artists

Kopper’s rambunctious riffing suits the story of the song “Fading Fires” (from the EP of the same name) as its about an artist who is stuck and frustrated with his work, hoping for some kind of breakthrough. Guitar, vocals, bass and drums seem to be working not at sync so much as coming from the same source and then working in tandem at points, giving the impression of a frayed dynamic reflecting a frazzled psyche. Often rather than just chords it sounds like the guitar riff winds up into a seeming explosion of fragmented melody accented by the rhythm. The effect is one of a different kind of psychedelic rock than the kind we’ve heard of late get so trendy. It sounds like a mind coming apart and reorienting in necessary new patterns and the inner turmoil that can be part of that process of forcing your mind into unfamiliar paths in order to grow out of your bad habits. In the music video we see the painter disgusted with his own stagnation and then visions of the band wearing faces like modern post-modernist Chagall pieces as well as people at a social gathering with the same. This imagery puts him over the edge into confronting the creative urges he’s been resisting until he finally wrestles with the visions taunting him and then takes them in to be cast out again as his new level of artistic expression and persona. The violence of the music reflects this catharsis in setting the old mind and methods to flame and getting on with the new. Watch the surreal video on YouTube and follow Kopper at the links provided.