Show and tell is a feature where an artist talks about the inspiration behind their new video. Today, Brendon Massei of Baltimore band Viking Moses tells us about ‘Fool for the Flame’ a song lifted from their fifth album Cruel Child. It melds Americana with an offbeat narrative quality redolent of Megnetic fields.
‘Generally speaking, “Fool For The Flame” is a song about staying the course in the face of oblivion. The song addresses a number of topics from finding intellectual stimulation in romantic relationships to ageing, chemical dependency, and childlessness. There is an increasing display of panic in the vocal performance as the song progresses, culminating in a cocky-yet-playful resolve.
The purpose driving the singer is the pursuit of some sort of clarity, yet this is conveyed with an underlying sense of surrender, and the otherwise dark topics addressed in the song are offset by a positive declaration to “stay on my game”.
Subliminally, this recurring lyric doubles as one of several hunting motifs made throughout the album Cruel Child, signifying persistence and drive.”
On the video:
“Fool For The Flame” was directed by Baltimore filmmaker Nick Hughes. The video was shot in large part at my neighborhood local, 3 Miles House, which for the better part of a century remained in the possession of a single Baltimore family.
Most of the people seen in the video are among this extended family, in addition to the bar’s current owners. I helped out at this bar many years, and unofficially I’m still on call here.
I attempted a sort of “Dancer In The Dark” [Bjork] approach to portraying this role, particularly in the floor-mopping shots.
Future plans:
“Nick and I are working on more videos of Cruel Child tracks, and right now we are on a shoot in the Mediterranean. There will be some Viking Moses concerts in Southern Europe through January and early February, and we’ll be touring in the USA starting in March, leading up the release of our new album Cruel Child on April 5, 2019.”
