If you're unsure how to unleash your inner dark lord, Jacob Turnbloom is here to help.
In the gloriously absurd "Ride the Past Waves of the Future" video -- the Mrs. Magician frontman's first as a solo artist -- a befuddled, stay-at-home Dracula lays down a handy guide to harnessing those powers amid '80s VHS tape grain and hilarious pentagram-peddling schlock.
For those familiar with Turnbloom, the Derrick Acosta-directed video should come as no surprise -- he's a long-time acolyte of anything horror-related, especially when it's riddled with camp beyond comprehension.
His "spooky garage" Grave Walks 7-inch (a 2013 collaboration with Dan Sartain) and Mrs. Magician's own 2016 genre-sendup video for "Eyes All Over Town" [watch it here] has provided more than enough evidence over the years that Turnbloom's harbored a bloodlust for every and all things that go bump in the night.
"There’s a Selector Dub Narcotic video called 'Hotter Than Hot' that I wanted to try and emulate with just dancing free," Turnbloom told SoundDiego about the new video. "I’m not a good dancer but I wanted something odd and simple; Derrick thought of a kind of Mr. Rogers step-by-step, conjuring-up-evil, straight-to-video-type vibe; and the Dracula thing is just something I’ve always wanted to do.
"I just like dressing up like a dollar store Dracula."
The new single is nearly everything we've come to love about Turnbloom boiled down into one 4 1/2-minute gem -- a Jesus and Mary Chain-esque tambourine-and-guitar-feedback march coupled with the singer's bold baritone delivery, lyrics alternately cynical and hopeful, an earworm melody, and even a nod to the Isley Brothers' "Shout" call-and-response classic with its "a little bit softer now" bridge.
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"I guess it’s not entirely about one specific thing," he said when asked about the song's refrain. "That chorus line is about history repeating itself, people acting willfully ignorant towards the past. Some parts are about the sad fact that life doesn’t really seem to have any meaning but trying to be OK with that."
Which is to say that those of us who heavily embraced Magician's "Strange Heaven," "B-Sides" and "Bermuda" records -- in all their Beach-Boys-in-the-upside-down, nihilistic-pop glory -- certainly won't be disappointed with Turnbloom's solo debut effort "Cemetery Luau" (which is, of course, due out on Halloween via his own Cheddar Goblin Records; pre-order it here).
And as the singer transforms into a loveable albeit awkward basement-dwelling monster in his new video, perhaps it might just also represent his musical metamorphosis from band leader to solo act.
Or not.
"The video never meant to parallel anything," Turnbloom told me. "But if you saw something in it like that, well then that’s pretty rad."
Dustin Lothspeich is SoundDiego's senior associate editor, a San Diego Music Award-winning musician, and talent buyer at The Merrow. Follow his updates on Twitter or contact him directly.
