Shimmering psychedelic rock trio Dirty Sound Magnet have unveiled their new music video for ‘Insomnia’, the closing track on their new album Dreaming In Dystopia, out now via Wild Thing Records.
Watch the video for ‘Insomnia’ here: https://youtu.be/rFFwM8IpO20
With the release of Dreaming In Dystopia, Dirty Sound Magnet have solidified themselves as one of the most inventive and adventurous vintage rock bands in the scene, with a formidable touring schedule to match. Comprised of longtime friends and band members Stavros Dzodzos (guitar, vocals), Marco Mottolini (bass, backing vocals), and Maxime Cosandey (drums, backing vocals), Dirty Sound Magnet have entered a new era with their latest album, exploring themes of chaos and introspection with a blend of the rock sounds the members know so well, and atmospheric, kaleidoscopic arrangements that incorporate new textures and genre influence.
Order Dreaming In Dystopia here: https://ffm.to/dsm_dreamingindystopia
Previously released as a single in the leadup to the album, the ‘Insomnia’ video is an eight-and-a-half minute psychedelic rock epic, beginning with a delicate, dream-like ambient soundscape that slowly builds as vocals and drums are layered in, then shifts to a heavy, distorted bassline, where the music video begins. The oscillating bassline becomes the throughline of the song, as each different chapter unfolds. While the song’s most literal interpretation deals with insomnia and music arising from sleepless nights, the music video, directed by Maxime Cramatte, shares a different interpretation.
The ‘Insomnia’ video opens in a dystopian, industrial landscape, with a low, grinding bassline and searing, reverberating guitar licks as the protagonist works as a mechanic. He finds himself looking at a billboard which asks, “Looking for the answers in life?” and the line between real and imagined quickly blurs, and the protagonist enters a dream world. In essence, the video depicts not only ‘Insomnia’ but the theme of the album at large.
“‘Insomnia’ is a song with multiple layers of meaning,” explains Dzodzos. “On one hand, it’s about that uncanny feeling when the entire world is asleep and you’re awake. On the other, it’s as much about chasing sleep as it is for ideas and inspiration.
“The music of ‘Insomnia’ is the result of years of experimenting and jamming,” recalls Dzosdzos. “As far as I can remember, we’ve been trying to bring it all together. We knew that the song had the potential to become one of our epics, though even as a complex instrumental track, it was still missing something. Fast forward to two years ago when I was dealing with an entire summer of sleepless nights. From that experience, we got the idea to connect a gentle ballad about insomnia to that instrumental first written a decade ago. With lyrics now in place, things finally clicked.”
With ‘Insomnia’ being such a long term project for the band, it only makes sense that the music video would in itself be such an ambitious creative project. Dzosdzos explains, “We wanted the filmmaker Maxime Cramatte to give us his own interpretation of the song. So we gave him carte blanche and he came up with something totally different. In the end, his underdog story echoes the story of Dirty Sound Magnet: ‘Follow your dreams no matter how impossible they may seem, magic can always happen.'”
