Grant Evans: “Host of Illusions”

The crackling nightmare of Grant Evans’ vid clip for “Host of Illusions” is a perfect compliment to the buzzing drone of his music. This piece of music is an excerpt from a full-length cassette titled Jewels from the House of Worms and the video makes use of cinematic techniques like juxtaposition with expert aplomb. Shot in black and white, the unnerving clip is like that of a film student exploring dark dream imagery. Evans’ use of worms, nails, a knife blade, and grainy footage of a fire amongst trees (or, more frightening, is that a neighborhood fire ablaze?) is left wide open for interpretation. The heavy drone of the phased keyboard chord forces us to view these images one after the other with only our own perception dancing with the slowly crescendoing static noise building in the music. The cacophony breaks at the end as the final image, flames in a forest, burn down our hopes and ambitions. The smoldering aftermath is yet to be seen, but rest assured, we all return to the worms.

Jewels from the House of Worms is now available from A Guide to Saints as part of their “Cassette Diaries” series

Written by Jeff Daily