Watch Thollem’s “Where Belongs Who” Video

Watch Thollem’s “Where Belongs Who” Video:

Thollem McDonas is the kind of fiercely independent artist the world needs more of. A classically trained pianist with degrees in performance and composition, McDonas left it all behind upon graduation to pursue his own creative vision. While many at his age would have settled into the safety of a professional career, the young musician was driven by political concerns and the desire to use art as an instigator of change. To this end, McDonas adopted a strategy of drift, traveling the US and Europe. In the process, his rigorous musical training would undergo a transformation and as the musician discovered his own creative path he also found himself drawn towards improvisation and freer forms of expression. McDonas has gone on to be a prolific collaborator and solo artist, playing and recording with an impressive array of musicians that include folks like: Mike Watt, Jad Fair, John Dieterich, Nels Cline, Michael Snow, and Arrington de Dionyso–to name just a few. He is also been the lead vocalist for the Italian agit-punk band Tsigoti for the past 8 years, written essays that have appeared in publications like Anthology of Essays on Deep Listening, the Czech music magazine Full Moon, and First American Art Magazine, as well as recently acting in Matthew Barney‘s mind-blowing, six film opera, River of Fundament.

This month Thollem released his first “solo song-oriented album” Machine In the Ghost via Bob Bucko Jr.’s label Personal Archives, and it’s a powerfully idiosyncratic expression of the artist’s longstanding interest in social justice. Thollem informs listeners that the new record is “dedicated to (but not necessarily about) John Trudell, Black Lives Matter and Rick Bennett“. In voicing the concerns of marginalized Americans, he places himself in a long tradition of folk singers, but he pushes on the boundaries of the form through his seemingly ceaseless desire for experimentation. In addition, using a Yamaha PF10, as well as liberal helpings of effects pedals, Thollem generates a gnarly form of the blues. Crepuscular keys simmer at the heart of “Where Belongs Who“, as in a solemn voice he tells us, “people come here/and people go”. The visuals for the track, shot at the Arizona border with Mexico by ACVilla, draw a straight line to the political implications of “Where Belong Who”. Using one long take shot through a fence which divides the two countries, the camera vantage slowly pans upward towards a cloudy blue sky–contrasting the fences boundary with the boundlessness of the sky. When the camera’s point of view returns to earth the fence is briefly gone, but as Thollem’s song skids off the road into a haunting ambience, the fence returns with all it’s menacing implications.