After releasing one of Paste’s top albums of 2020 in their sophomore record Just Look at That Sky, Ganser are back with word of their new EP, Nothing You Do Matters (Oct. 5, Felte Records), produced by Angus Andrew of Liars. Ahead of the record, the Chicago four-piece have shared the cinematic music video for lead track “People Watching,” which uses an immersive virtual “green screen” technology employed on productions like Disney+ hit The Mandalorian.
In the course of their “People Watching,” Ganser see a dire state of affairs: “No one is asking / Everyone’s taking / No one is giving / Maybe you’re faking,” Nadia Garofalo sneers over dance-punk thrum, with backing vocals and keys orbiting her acerbic observations. Suddenly Ganser’s guitars fall away, the track collapsing into murky synth, uneasy drum patter and Alicia Gaines’ almost taunting inquisitions: “Where you gonna go? / No destination.” As the song finally spirals out, Garofalo intones, “Talk until your words lose meaning,” as if urging the people she’s watching towards both futility and freedom.
Directed by Garofalo and Gaines, the “People Watching” video is equal parts Fargo and Casino: Gaines, Brian Cundiff and Charlie Landsman are dropped onto a secluded patch of snowy farmland, thanks to that LED Volume technology—which uses an immersive set of high-resolution LED screens matched seamlessly to a physical set—where they set about burying Garofalo alive. We spend much of the video looking down at her from the band’s perspective, as if to emphasize their attempts to obscure the message she’s sending in the song itself. Only at the end does it assume Garofalo’s viewpoint, watching in vain as earth showers over her and blocks out the sky above.
Watch the “People Watching” video and Ganser’s 2021 Paste session below, and see the details of Nothing You Do Matters further down.
Nothing You Do Matters EP Tracklist:
01. People Watching
02. What Me Worry
03. People Watching (Liars Remix)
Nothing You Do Matters EP Art:
