Can the real Jeremy Scott please stand up?
You might be left wondering exactly who's who after watching the man battle himself in the SoundDiego video premiere of "I'm Not Crazy (You Are)" from Body Song -- Scott's new project with childhood friend and longtime musical collaborator Jackson Milgaten.
Born from the ashes of the short-lived and criminally underappreciated Deadphones (which was essentially a revamped Cuckoo Chaos, one of San Diego's greatest exports in recent years), Body Song's new single is an easy listen: Equal parts eerie, beautiful, stoic and sonically experimental -- Scott takes his place as the mastermind behind nearly all of the instrumentation (save for Milgaten's sax solo halfway through).
With album No. 1 on the way this summer (tentatively titled "The Multiplier") along with another two-song single (including a cover of Depeche Mode's "Behind the Wheel") set to be released soon -- the video for "I'm Not Crazy (You Are)" is the perfect visual accompaniment to the song, with Scott brilliantly acting out the troubling lyrics in various San Diego locales.
The 5-minute film, edited and directed by Max Cheney (along with Scott), is a powerful testament to the musician's talents.
"The video concept came straight from the lyrics, which tell the story of a person who projects all of their anger and insecurities onto other people," Cheney told SoundDiego over email. "I brought the idea to Jeremy, of these two antagonistic versions of the same person, and we decided to portray one character as a trickster who playfully forces the other to come to terms with his denial, anger, and hypocrisy. The most remarkable part of shooting the video for me was watching Jeremy bring these characters to life. I was constantly freaking out behind the camera and was like, 'You can act too?!'"
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Apparently Scott can do pretty much everything -- except slow down. According to Milgaten, the group is continuously plugging away: "We've started working on a batch of new songs that will eventually become record number two."
Download the two-song "I'm Not Crazy (You Are)" single from Body Song's Bandcamp here, and be sure to catch the group in action at the Whistle Stop on March 24 with Le Chateau and Vakoum (no cover), and Soda Bar on April 2 with Delicate Steve and Entertainment Law (tickets are available here).
Dustin Lothspeich books The Merrow, plays in Diamond Lakes, and runs the music equipment-worshipping blog Gear and Loathing in San Diego. Follow his updates on Twitter or contact him directly.
