Huerco S / Sir E.U
Kasia Zacharko / R&R (still from “Plonk IX” music video)
In February, Brian Leeds released his first Huerco S. LP in six years. Plonk is a suite of 10 untitled, slippery tracks that fascinate the auditory pathway but give little insight into their creator, who has always preferred to remain half-obscured in shadow.
Today, nearly five months after that record’s release, the Kansan producer extraordinaire has shared the video for “Plonk IX,” its penultimate cut, featuring DMV rapper Sir E.U. True to form, Leeds remains off-screen for the duration of the short.
“Plonk IX’s” visual treatment comes courtesy of R&R, the directorial duo of Regan Annan and Reggie Scott Smith, who have previously worked with Boy Harsher, Telfar Clemens, and Eartheater. It finds Sir E.U drifting across a bleak cityscape, exploring both the endless stimulation and soul-crushing emptiness of the sprawl. He’s joined at points by the actor Erin Lamar, who shadows him through dark rooms and overcast exteriors.
“We aimed to create a music film in the style of slow cinema through editing choices and matching the negative space in the piece with void-like, unconventionally long shots,” Annan and Smith tell The FADER. Slow cinema, they explain, is “a genre of art cinema film-making that emphasizes long takes and is characterized by a style that is minimalist, observational, and with little or no narrative.”
Their short certainly achieves synchronicity with the track, in which Sir E.U sprays spoken-word bars in all directions as the walls of Leeds’ claustrophobic production steadily close in. It’s the type of high-concept endeavor that works on multiple levels — intellectually challenging if you’re following along and visually engaging even if you’re totally lost. Watch it below.
