CITIES AS A DREAM
In this high-speed digital age our collective senses have been overwhelmed by a proliferation of imagery and information, as a result we as a culture have reached a clear saturation point, where we no longer process everything that’s presented to us. We merely absorb scraps of ideas and images, which essentially paves for a very fragmented and detached consciousness.

So I thought it would be interesting to slow everything the-fuck-down to a ridiculously painful rate, where the viewer is forced to take active role in what he/she chooses to witness. And with this new-active role you can either perceive this information/imagery with a newfound clarity or you’ll just dismiss it because you’re utterly bored by the pacing.

With this in mind, we decided to explore something very basic and yet inherently beautiful---something we’ve all seen before: HUMAN BEINGS DANCING.

However, with this hyperrealistic footage (only made possible by today’s technological innovations) ---in which the speed has been manipulated in such a way---you can now see everything with utter precision, whether it’s the contours of the dancer’s muscles slapping the pavement or the development of a simple gesture like a smile (this and tons of other weird and beautiful shit starts to happen the more you spend time with the film).

And so with this song, “Cities as a Dream” some of these ideas are directly addressed: especially the one where our society mindlessly absorbs information at an intolerable rate (THINK REALITY TV or THE NEWS). However, our song’s narrative does not depict or reflect the simple joy of people dancing; rather it details the violent spectacle of a crowd cheering and passively watching a family and a horse being thrown off a house.

It’s admittedly an eerie and dark scene for a song but somehow it doesn’t feel too far off from our lives in today’s media-drenched sensationalized world. We watch and watch this absurd shit and never have a moment to process it fully, and as result we never ask questions. We just accept everything for what it is.

So perhaps in slowing this beautiful scene of people dancing (and maybe with our own lives)…we’ll be presented with a unique perspective, a perspective where we can actually understand what’s being presented to us. It’s sort of like saying “FUCK YOU” to this fast-paced and exhausting world we all live in!

And what’s more liberating than that…