Montreal-based singer and producer Laurel Sprengelmeyer – better known as Little Scream – recently released her debut album Cult Following. The record features a number of guest appearances from the likes of Mary Margaret O’Hara, Sufjan Stevens, Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, Owen Pallett and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio. Despite the star-studded cast, though, the record puts Sprengelmeyer’s talents to the forefront, creating a record that’s exuberant, distinctly pop but also not afraid to experiment.
Its lead single ‘Dark Dance’ now has an accompanying video, directed by Lee Skinner. It’s a fun clip that’s wildly colourful, a little psychedelic and somewhat of a mix between an exercise video and an 80’s American melodrama. Watch below.
Of the track, Sprengelmeyer said: “One night I found myself dancing alone down an alleyway, singing in the dark. The further I walked down it, the further I sunk into my memory until I felt like I might actually step into my past when I emerged on the other side. This song was born there, it starts in the present and each verse moves further into the past. The main loop in the song is from an iPhone recording I made—it’s a very lo-fi gentle thing that I got really attached to, everything else was built around it.“
Director Skinner talked about the concept behind the video: “‘Dark Dance’ is ostensibly a music video about the rhythms of attachment, anxiety, and courage in an obscure future. But that just represents the cooled platelets that form on the surface. It’s the turbulent mantle underneath, composed of a dreadful wonder of the natural universe, that drives those outer elements. How do we act in the face of such mystery? Do we worship it? Do we endeavour to profit from it? Do we vow to destroy it? Or do we simply bask in its violet light with a dance partner? That’s what lies at the core for our protagonists. Having the capacity to run and jump. To be sad, mad, and silly. To agree and disagree harmoniously in a dance at the threshold to the void.“
Photo credit: Christopher Wahl
