Dead Men Talking Review – “All Into Gold”

URL: http://www.deadmentalkingtheband.com/

With technology seeming to move at a faster clip than our collective intelligence can keep up with, it’s easy to see why music videos have become just as vital to an artist’s career as singles once were – if not more so. Today’s musician has so many tools readily available at their disposal, regardless of status or income, which simply weren’t there ten or fifteen years ago. These days, entry level artists trying to make a name for themselves don’t have to wait for major label attention to craft a music video that spellbinds their fans in the wicked tones and soft melodies that their albums already contain, and that’s not just a good thing for the individuals themselves, it’s a great thing for music as a whole. Dead Men Talking’s single “All Into Gold” was already a decent song, outfitted with an elaborate production value that magnifies the band’s colorful sound and showcases their best attributes, but its just-released video is on another level of creativity entirely. Boasting quality cinematography that could be likened to an episode of Stranger Things and an equally broad mix of the original song, the video for “All Into Gold” is an exquisite look at Dead Men Talking’s music like we’ve never seen before.

VIMEO: https://vimeo.com/296766689

I can see how a lot of listeners might have only been half sold on “All Into Gold” when it was released as a single. It’s a very ambitious song in both its arrangement and in its larger design, and some casual fans might have been a little confused by the many twists and turns that it sports throughout its lengthy six minute running time. In that sense, this video is a watershed moment for Dead Men Talking, whose artistic identity is realized here without any external influences or contextual barriers to cloud its message. I myself feel like I’m better able to understand the wry wit of the band’s themes with this piece of art than I was previously, and that says a lot about what the video format can do for a talented group that is on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream. Like the protagonist in “All Into Gold,” we’re all chasing a mountain somewhere in the distance – Dead Men Talking’s just happens to be taller than most.

Slick, soulful and tempered with swanky melodies, this track is a stellar sampling of one of indie rock’s more provocatively stylized acts, and I think college radio fans are going to really hone in on everything that is has to offer. Dead Men Talking are still a little ways off from crossing over into contemporary pop/rock, but I don’t believe that to be such a bad thing. The artist who puts more stock in the elevation of their artwork than they do the creation of it isn’t just wasting their time, they’ve straight up picked the wrong profession. I don’t get the feeling from this song or the whole of Dead Men Talking’s work that they’re in a big rush to takeover MTV or the commercial side of the radio any time soon. Instead I think they’re just enjoying the experience of playing music, which if you ask me is exactly what tends to render the most evocative material in the pop lexicon.

BANDCAMP: https://deadmentalkingpdx.bandcamp.com/track/all-into-gold

Mindy McCall