Nothing channels Ophelia and mourns addiction in "Blue Line Baby" video - WXPN | Vinyl At Heart
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Nothing | photo by Ben Rayner | courtesy of the artist

Philly doomgazers Nothing unveiled a surreal and ominous video for “Blue Line Baby,” the second single off their third album, Dance On The Blacktop. In a statement, frontman Domenic Palermo described how the lyrics focus on how the opioid outbreak of the 1990’s devastated the communities of North Philadelphia, particularly the Kensington / Frankford area. 

“Looking around at the friends and family that are still around that came from down there, I’ll always be touched by what can come out of all that chaos and suffering. Children forced to learn loss early, faced with immeasurable odds and all the while this train continually hovers over your head, taunting you with its irony that there wasn’t a way out.”

Revolving around a protagonist named Cambria, the video is framed around the tale of Ophelia, the gorgeous cinematography drawing inspiration from the Sir John Everett Millais painting of the same name. Directed by Ricard Rivera of Klip Collective, the video weaves an eerie, haunting fairy tale world, as a girl (played by Sara Skinner) wanders through a smoky forest. She is draped in a thin, flowing garment and her woeful, deer-like eyes add to her ethereal quality. She drifts through a pool of water, skin bathed in technicolor lights and patterns.

The song itself has echoes of 90’s shoegaze, with rasped vocals and plunging guitar chords. Palermo murmurs in a voice that is distant and floating, reciting Philly street names, lyrics drenched in somber imagery: “Sprawled out on the grass / Clementines inside her mouth / Could you steal a sweet kiss for me / Behind the barren Lehigh tree?”

Dance On The Blacktop will be released August 24th via Relapse Records. Nothing will play Union Transfer on October 6; tickets and more information can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar. Watch the video for “Blue Line Baby” below.

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