video premiere: cryogeyser – pretty
L.A. trio Shawn Marom, Hunter Martinez, and McCoy Kirgo, aka Cryogeyser, share their poignant new single "Pretty", taken from the group's forthcoming double LP, which was produced by Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa. Mozgawa also plays drums on the track, which explores the fine line between prettiness and pettiness, and although the general vibe is downcast and insecure, there's a blissfully hazy, dreamlike quality throughout -- thanks in part to the trippy Zach Fudge-directed video -- that has us feeling nostalgic this morning for the early '90s heyday of 120 Minutes. The band talks about the nebulous state of pretty:
Sometimes we wear pretty to elicit contact. Pretty is surface. A costume. Pretty is the state of being managed and labeled by the desires of others, and this song is about feeling that pressure—what if being outwardly emotional doesn’t work, can we resign to being perceived solely by our outward expressions. Sometimes ruled by insecurity. Caught between trying to hold onto yourself, and what others feel you as—resulting in a madhouse hall of mirror vibe. Are we ever defining ourselves actively? Or are we grasping for someone to see us, desperate for second-hand self definition, as self protection...tumbling through the mirror labyrinth, in perpetual laughter.
‘Pretty’ was written 2 years ago, and finished 10 minutes before Hunter was coming over to record demos. The video was recorded a year ago in New Mexico without ever having demoed the song. Prettiness, like pettiness, like an outward loneliness, are masks we put on to interact with our own feelings in real time, live, for others to see. Being vain may not always be the most effective method, for it may always be being yourself, but when you can’t, pouting feels good
"Pretty" is out today on Terrible.