Wax Idols don’t want to be predictable. The Heather Fortune-led Oakland band is known for a darkwave aesthetic that does lack for direct pop melodies, so a song with the name “Mausoleum” seems especially on the nose. But that’s what makes the video for the song so great. It matches the sound of the song, which eschews some of the cloaked darkness that is normally present, and takes to an Oakland cemetery to have the band act goofy while dressed in literal cloaks.
Fortune released a statement explaining how the footage juxtaposes the song’s more serious message:
“We made this video ourselves with our friend Dalton Townsend and an old Sony Hi8 camcorder. The Monty Python-esque shenanigans are meant to stand in contrast to the bleak environment and subject matter of the song: life carries on after tragedy, but even though you learn to live with the pain of loss, it never really goes away. ‘Mausoleum’ is a song about that feeling—when a memory or random experience has you unexpectedly thinking again about a loved one, and it almost feels like they’ve come back, just for a moment.”
Check out Wax Idols’ “Mausoleum” above and look for the band’s new album, Happy Ending, on May 16.
