https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQNe0Z6TB_E
The Order of Life and Death – or T.O.L.D., for our abbreviation generation – is the alias of UK-born, LA-based musician Dan Smith, whose debut album ‘It’s Not About The Witches’ drops on June 17th. As sharp minds may infer from his chosen moniker, his preoccupation is mortality, packaged in moodily anthemic synthpop.
‘Master of the Species’, released ahead of his album launch, is a languid meditation on accepting solitude and taking solace in oneself, whilst celebrating beating the odds of the universe simply by being born human. “I guess it’s a slacker anthem,” T.O.L.D. told (lol) The Fader. Spent yet another three hours scouring the Instagrams of everyone from your old school and concluded that they’re all more talented and successful and interesting than you and you’re just a solidly mediocre individual shuffling along day by day who can’t even remember their Netflix password from one day to the next (cough)? Fret no longer! T.O.L.D. is here to remind you you’re a miracle of probability just cause you’re a human.
Accompanying the track is perhaps the most striking video we’ve seen all year. T.O.L.D. ambles around an unsettlingly deserted suburbia, casually accompanied by a handful of clones. With a gloomily desaturated colour palette, the video is eerie as it is cinematic. It’s the result of a collaboration between T.O.L.D., director Garrett Curtis and stylist Marta Villalobos – and T.O.L.D.’s skill with a camera doesn’t end there. He recently played the Echo Plex in LA, and documented the day for Wonderland with a trusty disposable camera – take a gander at the snaps below!
