Almost a full year after the release of Matthew Dear's monochromatic opus, Black City, the album's swansong single, "Slowdance," gets a video.

San Diego filmaker Charles Bergquist was tasked with transforming the undulating piece of goth romanticism into a video. He received, basically, creative autonomy, and set about trying to decipher a track that is, in his words, "about the disruption of memory, at it’s visual core." The result is a fluid, heady, almost voyeuristic collage of urban landscapes, visual effects, and unsubtle shots of a certain ingenue. "In the song’s build and layering of memories of her," he says, "She, the environment shared, and the unknown becomes blended, fractured and infinitely heaped together." It does look like thinking backwards feels—uncertain, romantic, bizarre."

"The lyrics drove the photography and the sound drove the texture and slices," Bergquist says. "For most of the edit and post-production work, I let the track dictate the visuals."

That means slightly regimented cuts—timed to beats sometimes, but not always—a complete lack of color, aqueous imagery, and a microscopic attention to detail. And with that, the final piece of the Black City puzzle has fallen into place.

Director : Charles Bergquist
Produced : Charles Bergquist

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Director Of Photograhy : Charles Bergquist & Mark Shonka
Starring : Nicole Lively
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Hair and Make Up : Chantall Northrop
Stylist / Wardrobe : Katrina Adair
Production Assistants :
Andrew Martin
Tommy McAdams
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matthewdear.com/
ghostly.com/releases/slowdance-ep
ghostly.com/releases/black-city