This Imaginary Tricks Video For “Lights Out” Explores The People We Value

Imaginary Tricks is a New York-based project helmed by Mike Visser, who creates anthemic, skewed pop songs like "Lights Out," a noisy track with a video premiering today on The FADER. Marc Thomas Kallweit directs Visser in two roles: a shiny suited star in a neon-lit studio, which eventually fades into a person living on a city's streets. The video challenges who we ascribe value to, but there's another uncomfortable truth at its heart: Visser is just acting, but for a lot of people, myself included, watching him may be the longest time we spend today acknowledging the plight of the unhoused.

“If have money, you have power; and if you don't, you're fucked," Visser told The FADER over email. "We shot this video over a couple days in Sacramento, CA. It was a harrowing experience to portray a homeless person, as real homeless men and women walked by our set in disbelief. I wish we didn't have this problem in this country."

Skommel, the debut album from Imaginary Tricks, is out March 24 via Friendship Fever. Here, you can donate to Next Move, a Sacramento rehousing charity.