Silent Lions know what they’re doing when it comes to establishing mood, their aesthetic being a mash of the foreboding and the seductive. The new video for “Runnin’ Me Down” gives the tune’s looming dread a visual approximation, featuring a sleepwalking woman conjured from bed by the song’s dark power. The Toledo-Detroit heavy soul duo of Dean Tartaglia (lead vocals, bass, all manner of odds and ends) and Matt Klein (drums, backing vocals) don’t appear in the flesh, but their presence is felt as that which drives the possessed woman on, thrash-dancing in syncopated gyrations to the rhythms. Shades of Evil Dead, Paranormal Activity, even some cheesy ‘80s dance films, are alluded to throughout.
Klein himself directed the piece. “Runnin’ Me Down” is the first track on the group’s excellent six-song EP The Compartments, released earlier in 2014. If you want the chance to hear it live, Silent Lions are currently on an East Coast tour, the dates of which are below.
TOUR DATES
April 25 Morgantown, WV — 123 Pleasant St.
April 26 Washington, D.C. — The Pinch
April 28 Asbury Park, NJ — Wonder Bar
April 29 Shippensburg, PA — The Thought Lot
April 30 Pittsburgh, PA — Spider House
May 1 Detroit, MI — Metro Times Blowout
May 2 Columbus, OH — Woodland’s Tavern
May 3 Charleston, WV — Boulevard Tavern
May 14 Detroit, MI — The Shelter
May 24 Fort Wayne, IN — Brass Rail