Vision Video shares ‘Let Go of Time’ single from ‘Modern Horror’ album and announce European tour dates

Post-punk outfit Vision Video presents has unveiled their new video for ‘Let Go of Time’, their fourth single from their ‘Modern Horror’ album. Diving headlong into the viscera of atrocity that we see in our modern world, this 11-track offering was preceded by the singles ‘Stay’, ‘In My Side (Modern Horror Version)’ and ‘Dead Gods’, a scathing critique of those who use dogma and ideology to justify violence and authoritarianism.

Having just won the 2024 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards Editor’s Eyeball Award, Vision Video has been announced as part of the lineup for the Sick New World Festival in Las Vegas. There’s good reason that the band’s output has been dubbed “Dance Music for the End-Times”.

Formed in Athens, GA in 2020 by Dusty Gannon, whose character videos featuring “Goth Dad” have won the hearts of hundreds of thousands of followers, and Emily Fredock, Vision Video creates intense and uncompromising goth rock with a message. Injecting malaise into classic post-punk and new wave, this is refreshingly modern while paying homage to artists like the Chameleons and the Cure.

Moving in a very different sonic direction, the band worked with Grammy Award-winning producer Ben Allen (Erasure, Animal Collective, Washed Out, Deerhunter), who recorded and mixed this album at Maze Studios in Atlanta. Mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Frank Arkwright (The Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Primal Scream, Blur, Mogwai), this album features cover artwork by Ryan Dunn

“I wrote ‘Let Go of Time’ not long after I was diagnosed with PTSD. I was watching my favorite vampire film (the incredible Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’) and I found myself feeling a lot of parallels to how the character Adam (played by Tom Hiddleston) felt about the world – having to endure for so long, but always feeling less and less purpose because of this diminishing luster of things,” says Dusty Gannon.
“I think that film, and ultimately this song is about finding purpose, joy and love when it is most difficult to find those things in life. It’s about the endurance of love when you have someone that will give everything to spend time with you, to be present with you when you are not well. I’m really fortunate to have that in my life with my partner Scarlet. She has seen me in my lowest moments and my darkest hours and she is still there, always kind and loving and pushing me up to the light.”

‘Modern Horror’ goes to much darker and acidic places than earlier releases, leaning into Gannon’s experiences as an anti-war Afghanistan veteran and former firefighter-paramedic and drawing attention to the systematic disenfranchisement and seeming hopelessness of current world circumstances. An unrelenting exposition on real-world horrors, this record warns against further war and brutality.

“Writing ‘Modern Horror’ has been an outlet for my reflections and frustrations of the current state of America and the world at large. I see a lot of regression happening in the world and it is so disheartening to me. Having been through a war personally, then being a paramedic-firefighter during the pandemic, I started to see these shifting and cracking fault-lines in the way that everything worked. I think we’re watching the failure of untenable systems, like unbridled capitalism, colonialism and religious fundamentalism. Instead of allowing them to die off, the powers-that-be are doubling down and it is causing a lot of unnecessary atrocities and hardship to occur,” says Dusty Gannon.

“I am a huge fan of horror films because they serve as a kind of bizzaro-mirror for us to analyse societal problems, so I wanted this record to be that dark mirror. This record has a lot of “horror” imagery and metaphor use. Another reason I decided on the name “Modern Horror” is because “horror” (or fear, as it is) is an inversion of “love”, so it’s a cheeky nod to Bowie’s “Modern Love” which is one of my favorite songs. There are a couple lyrical nods to that throughout the record as well.”

Presenting a larger, more refined sound than earlier Vision Video offerings, ‘Modern Horror’ maintains its grit under the nails. Charged with anger and frustration, it does not lose its sense of direction or its listenability. The guitar work is fierce and dissonant, but still melodic. Vocally and lyrically Gannon belts and cries out in a pleading, yet controlled manner. Emily Fredock, utilizing vintage synths, creates gorgeous and haunting melodies that remain in your head well after the record stops, while newcomer Ryan Houchens’ drumming gives new energy to the band with a keen sense of ferocity.

Vision Video’s first two albums ‘Inked in Red’ (2021) and ‘Haunted Hours’ (2022) – both recorded and mixed by Tom Ashton of The March Violets – were met with critical praise, with Pitchfork calling their music “tailor-made for the sort of wallflower who sprints to the dancefloor the instant the DJ drops ‘Age of Consent’ or ‘Primary’ at Goth Night”. Vision Video has made the covers of Auxiliary Magazine and Fangoria Magazine. To date, they’ve completed eight major tours in North America, the UK and Europe.
The ‘Modern Horror’ album is out now, available on vinyl and everywhere digitally, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.  Vision Video will be touring their new album throughout autumn and winter, kicking off in Berlin on November 26. Their EU / Ireland / UK tour i. includes a series of dates with The Chameleons, The Membranes, Mark Burgess and The Nightmares.