Indie prog rock band Lords of Sealand released their official music video Architect from their full-length album Found Fiction and are celebrating with a show at Brick & Mortar Wednesday, January 13th. The song tackles an internal struggle between ideology and who we are. I talked to guitarist Brent Curriden who wrote the song and lead singer Jon Jorgan Illum who wrote and directed the music video.
What inspired the song?
Brent: Wanting to pursue music and do something different than what had been planned out for me. People asked what I’m actually going to do, if I want a family, is this an actual logical decision? And this was at the turning point when I decided this is what I’m meant to be doing. Society crushes creativity. When you grow up everyone tells you to follow your dreams and passion. You can do anything you put your mind to. You turn 18 and everyone says it’s time to get realistic. And this [Architect] is saying you can be doing art and something beyond societal expectations.
Brent talked about how he never tries to be too precious with his songwriting and how the song has a bit of a dark nature to it. I can’t help but hear the Tool influence.
What inspired the video?
Jon: The main theme of the video is inspired by the lyrics of the song. “Architect, build me up and I’ll tear you down, I swear”. We are all born as a blank canvass. We have no beliefs or ideology. From then on, we all are taking in the information that people give us and we’re painting it upon ourselves. None of us have control over what happens to us, what or how we are taught. We only control how we interpret it and act on our interpretations.
The colors and separate models represent the full spectrum of beliefs. In the end though, if we wash it all off and tear it down; all we’re left with is the human, the newborn, blank slate. That is who we are. We respect that. Beliefs, however, must earn respect. We change our beliefs all of the time when we learn. I am not my beliefs, none of us are.
However, we must recognize that the sum of our beliefs has created our environment. At the end [of the video] you notice, Allison, still masked is looking at herself in the mirror through the bars. Even though we can change and clear away the beliefs and see who we are, we’re often still trapped and stifled by them. We can only become free by actively changing our environment. By tearing down what “the Architect” has built.”
Lords of Sealand will be hosting a video release show at Brick & Mortar in San Francisco on Wednesday, January 13th, 2016 with Ghost Parade headlining and Cash Pony opening the show. The show starts at 9:00 PM with doors opening at 8:00 PM. The show is $7 in advance and $10 at the door.
