Rich Aucoin is currently time warping in both directions with his latest video. Known for pushing the envelope with his visuals, Aucoin’s new video for “The Past,” from his LP Release, throws it back to 1975 with a nod to the bright red lips of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, while moving into the future with a fully 360 VR video, shot by Pete Macdonald and edited by AJ King, with the audio spatialized by Kyle Varley, It’s like living in a funhouse Rich Aucoin’s design.
In classic Aucoin style, the album can be used as an alternative soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz, while drawing parallels to Alice in Wonderland (1951) – layering metaphor on metaphor and film reference upon film reference – grappling with the concept of mortality by using the film as a metaphor for the journey. Along with We’re All Dying To Live and Ephemeral, Release, originally titled Death, completes his first trilogy of albums celebrating life and death.
“’The Past’ is about ‘letting go’,” Aucoin said in an interview with Indie88. “The lyrics ‘don’t look back, was I always wrong?’ are repeated throughout. ‘It’s come out of my love, it’s coming for me’ is regret chasing one down until it kills them if they live with a sense of living in the past and/or with their regrets and mistakes letting them oppress you with trauma instead of working through those feelings and traumas to move forward and be uncontrolled by them. Alice is making a pivotal choice to move forward and not go back the way she came as she goes deeper into herself and her wonderland.”
Aucoin is embarking on a tour. His Death Tour, which he assures us will culminate in his death in 2020, beginning on October 10th. He will be performing Release in its entirety, synced to the film The Wizard of Oz, while revelling in parachutes and projections, confetti as per usual.
Might want to catch him before he’s dead.
Tour Dates:
08.09.19 – Hubbards, NS @ Shore Club
09.09.19 – San Jose, CA @ The Ritz*
09.10.19 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop*
09.11.19 – Arcata, CA @ Hum Brews*
09.14.19 – Toronto, ON @ The Bentway ‘Moon Merge’
09.17.19 – Edmonton, AB @ Rec Room*
09.20.19 – Minneapolis, MN @ Turf Club*
09.21.19 – Milwaukee, WI @ Shank Hall*
09.22.19 – Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s Oasis*
09.24.19 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater*
09.25.19 – Grand Junction, CO @ Mesa Theater*
09.27.19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar*
09.30.19 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah*
10.01.19 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo*
* with TWRP
Death Tour:
10.09.19 – London, ON – Call The Office
10.10.19 – Guelph, ON – e-Bar
10.11.19 – Toronto, ON – Longboat Hall
10.12.19 – Brooklyn, NY – Knitting Factory
10.17.19 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Cafe
10.18.19 – Chicago, IL – HVAC Pub
10.19.19 – Cudahy, WI – X-Ray Arcade
10.31.19 – Vancouver, BC – Biltmore Cabaret
11.02.19 – Victoria, BC – Lucky Bar
11.07.19 – Charlottetown, PE – PEI Brewing Company
11.08.19 – St John’s, NL – The Rock House
11.14.19 – Sao Paulo, BR – Breve
11.21.19 – Quebec, QC – La Source de la Martinière
11.22.19 – Montreal, QC – O Patro Vys
11.23.19 – Ottawa, ON – House of TARG
11.28.19 – Winnipeg, MB – Good Will
11.30.19 – Calgary, AB – Commonwealth