A Barely Lit Path
I don't recall ever feeling this awake
If I empty my mind
Do I scoop out my skull
What gifts would I find
Nothing’s inside
Just a slug that provides
A barely lit path
From your house to mine.
This week ReidsonFilm interrupt our usual programming with an extra that takes a bit of a swerve. Today we want to draw your attention not to a feature film but a music video. ReidsonFilm are all admirers of the experimental musician and producer Oneohtrix Point Never (OPN) aka Daniel Lopatin. He collaborates with artists such as David Byrne and FKA twigs, as well as producing original scores for the Safdie brothers’ films Good Time and Uncut Gems, both of which we rate highly.
Last week OPN released his 10th studio album, Again, and the closing track, A Barely Lit Path, is accompanied by this fascinating and affecting video directed by Freeka Tet.
The film opens with a view out of focus and as the scene sharpens we are in a car driving, at speed, through a shadowy forest along a ‘barely lit path’. The car’s interior is lined with vibrant orange velvet matching the orange fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror. The drivers though are CPR dolls in turquoise jumpsuits and as they strap themselves in you realize that this is a self-driving car. The car itself is cluttered with objects that seem richly symbolic: a game of chess, a manual on artificial intelligence, the dice, and one of the dolls is reading Erewhon – a 19th century novel in which machines gain consciousness.
As the car accelerates the dolls briefly hold hands, they play games: chess, rock-paper-scissors. At one point they appear to drift off to sleep, until the road gets rough and they start to panic. A tear appears on a cheek. Is the car taking flight? An emergency stop button appears and they frantically try to strike it – one breaks off his leg and hurls it, striking the button. The picture freezes for a moment and we are in a new weird, kaleidoscopic space awash with red. The dolls are floating … did the journey end or are we connecting two distinct but simultaneous events?
The music itself is classic, though always original, OPN: a mix of synths, glitch, and electronica, heavily laced with lush orchestral strings. Inevitably we are left asking, what does this mean? Are we watching versions of AI gaining sentience and heading into the singularity? Perhaps a strange, romantic tale: an android version of Thelma and Louise. Or is this an allegorical message - the barely lit neural pathways of the human mind fighting against disconnection? Take a look for yourself and see what you think.
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