Kim Gray
Vancouver’s Kim Gray has the world talking with word of the upcoming album Compulsion arriving August 11 through Bad Diet and we have the world premiere for the “P.I.G.” directed by Lucien Cyr that delves into the ins & outs of relationship duress with a causal kind of observance. Gray shapes evocative tunes that exist in that state of being where desires & the realities of our day to day lives are illustrated in terms that blend the mundane, the depressing & more coupled with the paranormal that illustrates the interior (and sometimes aloof) emotions that engulf our observations & reflections. Kim Gray makes no apologies for nothing, accepting & taking the blame for whatever the cause may or may not be with matters of relationships on the rocks where the situations of the heart are expressed through a hazy glaze of chords & keys that makes for an instance of pause to ponder what it all really meant to begin with.
Lucien Cyr’s video for Kim Gray’s “P.I.G.” starts out with a gradual zoom-out as the artist calmly & casually enjoys coffee while a significant other completely trashes the places. There is a kind of shrugged acceptance that Kim engages in with a sleepy sort of reluctance where an early morning brew is enjoyed as everything around the artist goes to hell in a hand basket. The premise revolves around Kim’s “quest to find peace through the meaningless distractions of sex, substances, memes, eating, YouTube and internet dating”, which is observed from an alien kind of vantage point that gazes at our artist as matters break down at home. This view extends outwardly as the transition sees Kim Gray strolling about the night’s sidewalk streets until a trusty nearby 7-11 is found for some sustenance & suds. Lucien allows for bubbly CGI moments where burgers, cigarettes, guitars & soda make for the fade into view of Gray’s beer & chips sabbatical that becomes interrupted by an extra-terrestrial’s luminous descent into a commercially zoned grove. A species from some other planet or galaxy or some other sort of dimension befriends our beleaguered hero where they share a cigarette as comrades in arms as the closing outro/zoom-out depicts that Kim Gray has boarded a UFO. A song about confronting the fallout of feelings (or lack thereof) illustrates the aloof & alienated sentiments as something set adrift to a literal outer space where the differences between two people is understood like two galactic planes.
Read our following interview with Kim Gray about the new album & video & more:
Tell us about what it was like working Mikey Young on the album Compulsion, and what you feel he further added to your visions.
The record was recorded by Malcolm Biddle (Sun Wizard, Dada Plan, Capitol 6) in Vancouver BC. I was very happy about having Mikey Young master the record. Mikey had worked on and mastered a lot of my favorite records that have come out over the past few years (Ultimate Painting, Dick Diver, Night Beats) Mastering is a pretty subtle thing, but really makes a lot of difference. I am pretty pleased with how he pulled all the songs together.
What sorts of compulsions for you informed the album Compulsion?
Compulsion was informed by a lot of things. I had just ended a pretty long term relationship and had cleaned up my life once again. I was in this strange state, like hyper aware of the incessant need for me and everyone around me to be distracted. “Compulsion” is kind of a look at this. It definitely isn’t a fuck you to the internet or technology or anything like that. Writing this record felt more like a meditation on things like internet dating, facebook, cat memes, drug use, meaningless sex etc.
What was it like working with Dustyn Peterman on the video for “P.I.G.”?
Dustyn Peterman did all the artwork for the record Compulsion. The video “P.I.G.” was made by a Vancouver based film maker named Lucien Cyr. Lucien has done a couple of other music videos for me and we have developed a pretty good understanding of what we’re after.
What else are you really excited about right now?
I am excited about this record coming out on August 11th. The record release will be in Vancouver, Canada on August 18th with Tracy Bryant (Burger Records.) Aside from that I am pretty excited about it finally being summer in Vancouver and being at the beach every day.
What else are you working on that you can tell us about?
I am working on some new material with the band. We have plans to get in the studio and record a couple of new songs towards the end of summer. I have also been working on some songs with a good friend of mine in Manchester, UK. We’ve been building songs – kind of piecing them together, sending them back and forth via e-mail. It’s been a pretty cool process for me. I am not sure what will come of any of these songs but I’m sure I’ll have some news in the near future.
Summer hopes & autumn dreams?
I’ll be on tour supporting the new record Compulsion” towards the end of summer. Dates TBA.
Kim Gray’s album Compulsion will be available August 11 via Bad Diet.
