BIG Something celebrated Inauguration Day on Wednesday with the release of a new music video for the song “Static”. The timing surely came as no mere coincidence as the potent visual accompaniment for the Escape track is compiled out of footage detailing the struggle for equality in the United States.
Released last year, Escape marked BIG Something’s first studio effort in two years and showed a level of maturity throughout the sextet. “Static” is one of those songs that encapsulates the ever-growing consciousness of the group, with the music video taking that growth a step further. The song’s sparing lyrics read more like poetry than a rock song, “Oh in my dreams/Like static on the screen/Black white and relentless/Until you appear in color/Oh my dreams.”
Meanwhile, the music video for “Static” begins with archival footage of the violent expression of racism during the Civil Rights era. As Black people are openly abused by their white counterparts as well as police officers, the song drones on instrumentally as Casey Cranford‘s saxophone serves as the backdrop for the raw footage.
There is a unique phenomenon that occurs when one sees black and white footage of the Civil Rights movement that gives the impression that these events were so long ago. In reality, however, many of the crusaders who fought for equal rights are still alive, and this effect only serves to further the antiquated notion that the struggle for equality was resolved back in the 1960s. But this psychological illusion is dispelled as the footage switches to present-day video of Black Lives Matter protests from the summer of 2020, also presented in black and white.
“I was looking for a creative way to frame this footage, both literally and metaphorically,” director Jameson Mangan said on Instagram. “I was aiming to compare to separate movements in two very different times in order to highlight just how far we have left to go as Americans. That’s when I stumbled across some old stock footage of two men demonstrating optical illusions.”
Along with the video, the band shared a quote from National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, “The new dawn blooms as we free it for there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.”
Watch the new music video for “Static” by BIG Something.
BIG Something – “Static” (Official Video)
[Video: Big Something]