Context is often a crucial factor in the effectivity of a piece of art, and, by that nature, taking something out of context can be even more impactful. Brooklyn’s own Secret Crush find a beautifully disconcerting dichotomy between soothing sounds and somewhat bleak, somewhat disastrous imagery in their new video for their track, “Wash Away,” off their forthcoming debut album, Double Life. Antiquated footage of time-forgotten film (feat. Flight Operations Aboard Kitkun Bay (1945), Nightmare Castle (1965), Antares Explosion (October 28th, 2014), Kiss Me Deadly (1955) alternates with tapings of wartime enterprises, skirting on the obscure. The visuals alone are almost comically outdated and non-linear, an experimental narrative that hops from story to story with no necessary rhyme or reason. It might not make sense, seemingly bizarre for the sake of being bizarre, but then it takes a turn for the perilous and it grabs your attention-bull by the horns. Here’s where the song’s tranquil lull makes a perfectly ironic sense and your forced to wrestle with easy on the ears vs. morbid on the eyes. A house completely ablaze, or the failed launch of a rocket takes on a somewhat grim beauty when set to the sound of Secret Crush. Flames plume in a sort of flowered beauty as a reverb-laden chord is struck, or men parachute out the back of a plane clearly going into battle, as singer Matt BIllington’s hushed vocals. Something horrible is happening, but, like, the sound is nice.
