Over the past few years, Iceage singer Elias Bender Ronnenfelt has been channeling his more warped impulses into an experimentalist side project called Marching Church. On the whole it’s a more subdued project than the sunburned post-hardcore exercises his band undertakes, but it manages to cover a whole lot of ground.
Even April’s This World Is Not Enough, his most song-driven effort to date, offered dalliances through dreary drones, dusty cowboy balladry, and Leonard Cohen-esque singer/songwriter structures. Today the Danish songwriter has returned with a video for one of that record’s standouts, “Your Father’s Eyes,” and news of a country-spanning U.S. tour.
The clip’s a mostly subdued affair featuring Ronnenfelt pensively smoking a cigar while ruminating on the past. There’s also a saxophonist (played by Dirty Beaches Alex Zhang Hungtai) involved somehow. Lower and Marching Church’s Kristian Emdal directed the video and he offered a statement on the clip, but it’s more impressionistic than anything else. Check out that below alongside the video and tour dates.
Kristian Emdal on the video for “Your Father’s Eyes”:
“She tilts her head, acknowledging his attention.
A reluctant smile confirming his move.
I’ll buoy you up, he says.
Her attention goes to the car, still warm.
Words tumble off his chest, not heard.
Silence, crickets, pale orange.
Her thoughts are empty yet no input welcome.
Echoes of the past resonate.
She submerges herself in him.
Up again, making effort to control her mirth.
His eyes are fixed.
Sky turns violet amber.
Her hands, his lips.
It’s time.”
Marching Church tour dates:
September 9 – Malmo, SE @ Sisters Academy
October 20 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox
October 21 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
October 22 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
October 23 – Madison, WI @ University of Wisconsin
October 24 – Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory
October 25 – Cleveland, OH @ Now That’s Class
October 27 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
October 28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus
October 29 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
October 30 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA
November 1 – Richmond, VA @ Gallery 5
November 2 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
November 3 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
