Megan Alice Clune’s forthcoming If You Do is one of the strangest, and one of my favorite, Room 40 releases this year. “So Bored” is the soundtrack to those moments where it’s hard to tell if it’s a dream or reality. Restrained synths rise and fall, echoing late into the night as a haze deepens behind my eyes, bleary and lost in this fractious moment. Clune’s voice is simultaneously unnerving and welcoming, like a siren dispossessed of her mystical power, but still impossible to ignore. Combined with the whispered fuzz and repetitive electronic tones, I lose all sense of place and time, simply hoping for a sign that this is all real after all.
In the dystopian drama of André Shannon’s and Jen Atherton’s mesmerizing video, there’s a moment where the sky flickers in and out of saturation, the brightness distressing, but the water teasing some form of salvation. As inflatable suits are stripped away and the darkness arrives, there’s freedom in disappearing beneath the tempting waves.
Megan Alice Clune’s exquisite If You Do is out September 10th via Room 40 and can be pre-ordered below.
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