Written by Fense
The animation in the video for “Molten Light” by Chad VanGaalen reminds me a lot of the animation signature of the late 80s and early 90s. You know the kind — gross for the sake of being gross; a sort of, well, faux art. There were plenty of bands from that era that slapped the crap on their album covers — Ugly Kid Joe and Big Black are a few that come to mind. But here, there’s a key “fortunate” element, and that is its association with the great music of Chad VanGaalen.
The other great element is that VanGaalen himself is the creator of the video, having drawn the images himself. Truthfully, those sometimes grotesque images fit pretty well with his music. Lyrics like They’ll find you and they’ll kill you / They’ll find you and they’ll kill you, sung in a soft and eerily romantic way, make that a true statement. Better yet is the sad story VanGaalen tells both through the song and through this video.
Below you’ll find the video for “Molten Light” and mp3s for “City Of Electric Light” (recently released by Sub Pop for free public consumption) and “Willow Tree”, both of which can be found on his 2008 release Soft Airplane.
Chad VanGaalen: City Of Electric Light [mp3]
[audio:1118_chad_vangaalen_-_city_of_electric_light.mp3|titles=City Of Electric Light|artists=Chad VanGaalen]
Chad VanGaalen: Willow Tree [mp3]
[audio:0908_chad_vangaalen_-_willow_tree.mp3|titles=Willow Tree|artists=Chad VanGaalen]