Deep isolation is all fun and games – until you form an emotional dependency with a mannequin you’ve discovered in the woods. At the best of times this sounds like the plot of some B-grade horror film but, under the current circumstances, it’s the fine line between sanity and a new level of uncomfortable that our newfound hobbies toy with each and every day.
Coincidentally that’s the general idea behind the latest video from Fredericton, New Brunswick-based ambient electronic artist, DenMother. “Don’t Really Know” captures the pitfalls of befriending haunted inanimate objects and/or cursed seamstresses found in the wild, no matter how lonely you get.
Produced and directed by Jordan Anthony Greer, “Don’t Really Know” comes from DenMother’s Alternate Timeline Edition of the album Then Now Forever, originally released in March 2020. Full of brooding minimalist arpeggios, the track itself sounds like the ideological successor to the work Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein; digital grandchild to composer Wendy Carlos and second cousin to Fever Ray.
While the video revisits some of the tropes of horror films – the mysterious haunted doll, the dissolution of reality with the personification of the mannequin, the final Shyamalanien-twist of “it was her all along!”, “Don’t Really Know” is brilliantly executed with a timing that highlights many unfortunate and painful realities of the circumstances. The idea of outsourcing companionship to some unorthodox friends found the wild is not so far-fetched as it once was.
With the relationship quickly souring, the video metaphorically takes a stab at the uncomfortable compromised situations that many are finding themselves in after a prolonged societal collapse. It immediately draws attention to a secondary pandemic taking place worldwide with a far more generally flagging to our collective mental healths with the surprise realization that not everyone is suited to an existence as a long-haul introvert. Just a quick extrapolation away, there’s also the implication that many, without the necessary financial support, are finding themselves trapped in difficult domestic situations.
On the surface, DenMother nails the song/video with what should be some innocently spooky fun but, in the context of our pre-apocalyptic world and as troubling as it is, it might just be another Thursday.