Psychic Handbook- “Puppy March” from Samantha Cornwell on Vimeo.
I first became aware of Oakland’s Psychic Handbook (Alejandro Archuleta) back in early February. It was at a show at Synchronicity Space in Los Angeles, where I had ventured with the intention of shooting live videos of Moon Duo and Pocahaunted (which, at that time, featured Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw). This was only my second live video venture, so I was quite apprehensive and insisted on getting there very early. Naturally, none of the bands were even close to playing, and the only people around were myself, my boyfriend Matt, and the lovely people who run Synchronicity space. I set up my tripod in an empty corner near the stage, and waited for the music to commence.
I didn’t know what to expect when Alejandro showed up on stage with nothing but a keyboard in tow, but I was surprised to discover a slowly building storm of long-playing transcendental jams. It certainly set the mood for the awesome musical explorations that were to follow, and made me regret the fact that I’d only come equipped to videotape two bands.
After returning home from that very memorable evening of music, I decided that I wanted to get in touch with Psychic Handbook about participating in my music video residency. I was so intent on this that I ended up sending him the first Myspace message that I had written in years for lack of another way of getting in touch. A few days later, I received a very enthusiastic response, which set the wheels in motion for the video you see here today.
I didn’t approach this video with any sort of narrative in mind, and really let the music lead me. I started with a backdrop of organic textures, and built upon that foundation with a host of colorful, glowing images that I designed myself. The only instance where I used found footage was a sequence involving a pair of sensual lips belonging to someone in the wonderful land of cyberspace. Amusingly enough, of all the videos that I’ve made in the past, this Psychic Handbook video is most reminiscent of a video that I made for an installation about The Amazing Criswell, who was a famous radio Psychic. Perhaps if you stare deep into the imagery in this video, and turn the volume up on Alejandro’s beautiful music, you’ll soon see the truth about your own future.
“Puppy March” is off of Psychic Handbook’s self released CD-R, YOU SEA.
For more information on Psychic Handbook, check the Space.
Video: Samantha Cornwell
Words: Samantha Cornwell
Tags: Alejandro Archuleta, Psychic Handbook, Puppy March, Samantha Cornwell, Video-Artist-in-Residence, YOU SEA
Gorgeous.
NIIIICE!