Gus Englehorn - "Collarbone"
Gus Engelhorn’s debut album, Death & Transfiguration, is a freak-folk epic that chronicles the Quebec songwriter’s unique experiences and those of several different characters of his creation. His narrative-driven lyrical style is reminiscent of the sardonic storytelling of Jeffrey Lewis and Daniel Johnston, while the twisting garage-punk instrumentation on the album rests somewhere between The Gories and Guantanamo Baywatch. It’s a perfect sonic union that elevates Englehorn’s sharp and witty lyrics, allowing his anecdotes to take front and center. Through a kaleidoscopic lens, Engelhorn sings from different perspectives on the record, elaborating on some downright surreal circumstances across its nine tracks, be it the psychic ramblings of a dead swan on “Dead Swan,” the supernatural experiences of a girl on “Patty Sees Her Soul,” or the garage-tinged mediation on his own childhood out of body experience on “Transform.” It’s a fascinating record that’s packed with some peculiar stories that’ll keep you hanging on every lyric and note.
Today, we’re excited to premiere the video for one of the record’s standout tracks, “Collarbone.” The song, like many on the album, has a descriptive title, as Engelhorn directly recounts breaking his collarbone and the aftermath, including the primitively painful reaction of “ahhhh.” The slight vintage fuzz of the guitars and the rumbling percussion are minimalist and direct, allowing Englehorn’s lucid thoughts to steer the song’s narrative as he laments how the person responsible for breaking his collarbone remains squarely in his mind’s eye. Englehorn describes the song as a “portrait of a bully,” which really resonates, as it’s quite challenging to free a bully from the confines of your mind after enduring their abuse.
The cinematic video follows a slightly bloodied Englehorn as he sings through a menacing grin with interposed shots of him sitting in a wheelchair with his arm in a sling. The scene eventually shifts to an individual hitting a punching bag, who then covers himself with pantyhose and proceeds to dramatically clock Englehorn right in the face several times. The brief encounter has all the dramatic flair of an old episode of Adam West’s Batman, minus the on-screen “Whams,” “Pows,” and “Bams.”
Stream the video below!
You can purchase Death & Transfiguration on vinyl via Bandcamp. It’s also available on all streaming platforms, including Spotify. Keep up with Gus by liking his page on Facebook and following him on Instagram.
