Nail Polish, “Chophouse Row”

Post Author: Justin Hernandez

Impose has your exclusive first look at the video for “Chophouse Row” off of Nail Polish’s Authentic Living, their new album out today. The video opens in a dark forest, the camera jostling like a found footage horror film. As the seconds pass on with only the sounds of nature to be heard, tension builds in the gloom among the trees. Don’t adjust your volume, however, because the opening strains of “Chophouse Row” will kick in soon enough and they don’t hold back.

As the taut, distorted punk riffs tear through the speakers, a strange figure appears. It’s worth watching the video just to try to make sense of the creature as the raucous “Chophouse Row” scores its erratic movements in the darkness. Looking something akin the ancient Quetzalcoatl robed in rainbow colored feathers and strips of fabric, the creature skulks and leaps in the shadows of the moonlit woods as Nail Polish roars on, punctuating the action with the percussion and power of “Chophouse Row” while slowly ratcheting up a feeling of panicked exhilaration.

“‘Chophouse Row’ is a recently redeveloped mixed-use retail and residential building in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood,” expands Nail Polish. “It was a practice space for the last thirty years until it was shut down and replaced with penthouse apartments, luxury office lofts and an artisanal marketplace. The song and video call attention to how such neighborhood institutions are sacrificed in the interest of catering to new money, perpetuating a cycle of rising rents and remade cities at the expense of the communities at work within them.”

“Chophouse Row” is the first video off of Authentic Living, Nail Polish’s new album which drops today on Help Yourself Records. You can follow Nail Polish on Facebook and Bandcamp.