@ Nalen, September 11

A friend of mine showed me the music video for the 2008 Chad VanGaalen song ”Molten Light”, and I was completely blown away. I’d heard nothing like it before.

The Calgary native Chad VanGaalen has always kept his sometimes creepy, always suggestive music videos in perfect line with his music. The infinite beauty of his song writing, combined with the home made feeling of his production, itself a product of his ambitions as an illustrator and animator, is something that’s been persistent throughout his career.

The music seems like only a part of the VanGaalen puzzle. His attempts as an illustrator and animator might not have worked on their own, but combining them with his music is nothing less than genius.

His new album Shrink Dust depicts a sort of amazon-like creature symbiotically connected with a human woman with distorted proportions. Oh, and the opening track is called ”Cut off My Hands”. But please, don’t let that scare you off. He’s amazing, and you should come see him at Nalen on Thursday September 11.