Following the release of his new album Future Times, Plankton Wat (aka Dewey Mahood, ex-Eternal Tapestry) has shared the music video for single "Nightfall". Soundtracking footage of the guitarist's hometown of Portland as day shifts to night, Mahood's snaking guitar lines capture the transient nature and almost supernatural essence of the golden hour, blossoming from smouldering drones through ravines of feedback and along warm currents of synthesizer drift to peaks of lysergic bliss.
"I wanted the "Nightfall" video to be a companion piece to the "Modern Ruins" video," says Mahood. "Dustin and I made the two videos separately, but in a very similar way - shot on our phone cameras, walking and driving around Portland. Where the "Nightfall" video focuses on urban decay, "Nightfall" is about the real day-to-day city we live in. I focused on documenting parks and neighborhoods around SE and downtown. This isn't the "city on fire" as hyped in the news, but the real city we live and work in. I wanted to show the peaceful and strangely beautiful side of Portland. With the shutdown of so many businesses this past year, and people attending work and school from home, the streets and public spaces are much more quiet and meditative these days.
Stylistically I was inspired by all the transitional shots David Lynch uses throughout Twin Peaks. My family and I had just watched the entire 3 seasons, and all the still shots of nature really stuck in my head. I also wanted to treat each individual shot differently which is a concept I learned from my favorite cinematographer Christopher Doyle, and his work on Wong Kar-Wai movies."
The music of Portland musician Dewey Mahood exists in constant communion with his surroundings. From acclaimed albums with heavy-psych mainstays Eternal Tapestry to his prolific solo excursions, Mahood's work has always been defined by his restless exploratory spirit and reverence for the environment. As Plankton Wat, his expressionist compositions exude a supernatural grace and patience, reflecting the resplendent beauty and mythical energy of the West Coast's wild places. On Future Times Plankton Wat uses his considerable guitar prowess to deliver songs that encompass both the wild, seeking energy of free-improvisation and the deliberate arrangements of more traditional composition. With his deft and stylistically varied playing Mahood escapes psychedelic tropes and chemical fueled alterations and instead celebrates an escape into the natural world. Future Times taps into psychedelia's counter-cultural heritage as music for protest, liberation and imagining new ways of being in this world.
