Music Video Monday goes goth.
Despite their name, Memphis’ The Pop Ritual is not very pop. The Memphis band leans heavily into the classic industrial tones pioneered by the likes of Einstürzende Neubauten and Nine Inch Nails.
Pop Ritual guitarist Scott Nivens says that when they released their album It Sheds Again in December, 2019, the band “had no idea how vocalist Colin Wilson’s lyrics detailing solipsistic self-destruction — both socially and personally — would be so pertinent to the happenings of 2020.”
To highlight the words, which often get obscured behind effects and noise in industrial music, the band created a series of lyric videos for each of the album’s six songs.
“Throughout 2020, social constructs have been put to the test,” Nivens said. “But what about the natural world? Collaging the indiscriminate savagery of the animal kingdom with stories of existential struggles was a meditation on what these songs meant over a year ago and what they will mean in the future.”
Here’s the lyric video for the title track, “It Sheds Again,” featuring an octopus who is definitely not your teacher.
Music Video Monday: The Pop Ritual
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