“Kokopelli” from Mild High Club's Skiptracing. Video animated and directed by Pierce McGarry.
The track introduces a new character to the album’s story, which follows a private investigator attempting to trace the steps of the sound and the spirit of American music.
“The kokopelli is a deity revered in several southwest Native American cultures” explains Alex Brettin, founder and creative voice of the band. “It represents the god of fertility and embodies the spirit of music and trickery. The protagonist of Skiptracing is not the Kokopelli. The Kokopelli represents the other one- the guide to the next step in the journey. He’s the sage, he lets the kid know he should keep at it.”
The tune, in keeping with the album’s theme, reflects upon Brettin’s own struggles with musical history and where he fits in: “I often question the relevancy of my choices when it comes to writing and the effects of nostalgia. I was toying around with this progression – and the first three chords seemed to expand like lungs taking in air… I just felt this sense that I had moved to a foreign place, and it reinforced this idea that I could still innovate and create something new in a world a century plus deep in recorded audio. I tricked myself!”
This reflection on nostalgia is brought to life by the hand of McGarry, a longtime member of the extended Mild High Club family, having shot and directed Mild High Club’s very first music video, 2015’s Windowpane. Producing the rotoscoped animation for Kokopelli was no small task; each frame was hand painted with ink and a paint brush on paper. “I love cartoons”, says Brettin, “and I miss the magic of hand drawn ones”.
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