The latest release from Halifax rockers Dali Van Gogh is a hard-edged “anti-love song,” designed to stress the toll that the last year has taken on even the closest relationships, but “Past Crimes” it’s just another chapter in the much deeper tale that they call The Testimony.
Half a decade ago, guitar Isaac Kent lost his home and recording studio in a devastating fire. A good chunk of his life immediately went up in flames; everything from his own personal belongings to musical instruments and recordings. Needless to say, that event became a major roadblock for Kent.
Although Dali Van Gogh has been active since 2008, regaining their momentum has proven a challenge and the year has been no picnic for the band either.
“It’s been quite a journey getting this far,” says Kent “The pandemic has wreaked havoc every step of the way.”
Despite the hiccups, it hasn’t seemed to have slowed the band down all that much. Both From Ashes (2017), and Under Her Spell (2019) were released from the second incarnation of Kent’s home studio, HouseFire Studio One, and “Past Crimes” is the second single to be released by the band this year.
While the bulk of this has provided raw stimulus for Dali Van Gogh’s material — filtering into the bands narrative, the curious character of The Preacher, and tied together into The Testament, a short work of fiction by Kent that can be found on Dali Van Gogh’s website — it has impacted how the band have done things.
The music video for “Past Crimes” has been the most recent casualty; dramatically resulting in a last-minute shift from a live-action video to an animation crafted by Kent himself.
The video depicts a tale of two lovers, like a modern day Bonnie & Clyde, but more toxic, self-aware, and entirely devoid of romance. With bandmates John Scotto and Rachelle Moreau providing vocals, the pair trade barbs over an untenable situation turned sour — one that Kent explains has been pulled from his own real-life experiences.
“On the bright side, animation allows us to tell any story we want, and in some ways made it much easier to tie the concept into The Testimony,” says Kent.
“Without getting into too much detail, the first draft of the song was written about the breakdown of a close relationship in my personal life. It wasn’t originally going to be a duet but, once it clicked to me that this could be taken as a love story of sorts, the lyrics came together.”
The song, produced by JUNO-nominated songwriter Rob Laidlaw (Platinum Blonde, Honeymoon Suite), is the fourth single to fit into the band’s overarching concept release and another piece of the puzzle of what the mysterious Preacher has been influencing.