If you’re going to call your forthcoming album Life Slime then there’s a warped inevitability that you might end up trying to set the Guinness World Record for “the most amount of slime poured over an individual during a music video performance” (official record verification pending). So, Johnny Lynch aka Pictish Trail, with the help of the video’s director Oscar Sansom and producer Beth Allen from film company Forest of Black, decided to make this a reality. Beth Allen says,
“We wanted to capture quite a simple and direct performance from Johnny in this one, so the set-up is clean and graphical and we were privileged to get some very real emotions. Thanks Johnny, it’s a beautiful track…Of course we also wanted to completely cover him in warm pink slime! And Johnny wanted it too. So we were cooking up huge pots of slime alongside filming. In the end we poured over 170 litres.”
Having watched the video, you may have some questions. I know I did. Unless you are a giant pink slug, how do you produce that much slime? Did Johnny have to go round with a vacuum after the shoot to suck it all up? You might start with 170 litres but looking at the video how many litres ended up inside Mr Lynch? Thankfully the man himself was able to answer these questions for me,
“Thankfully I didn’t have to deal with the slime disposal. The film company (Forest Of Black) took care of all that. They were very well prepared, I have to say. Oscar & Isla cooked the slime fresh, so it was warm when it was being poured on me – and the pouring took approximately 7 hours! At the end of the shoot, they had a separate paddling pool for me to disrobe and shower myself in. It was all quite surreal; my body had been soaked for so long my fingers were all pruned. I had to drive after the shoot and then get up at 4am to start the journey back to Eigg – I was pretty ill the whole of the following week.
The final scene we filmed was me being submerged in a slime bath, with my face going completely under the slime for about 30 seconds. I was blowing bubbles from beneath. Sadly, this didn’t seem to make the final cut. I definitely swallowed some, and a lot went up my nose. I regurgitated a big blob of slime straight afterwards, and I had loads in my eyes. Probably should have taken my contact lenses out, right enough”
Putting the slime of the century to one side, the song is the title track from the album Life Slime and it’s another demonstration of how Pictish Trail / Johnny is absolutely at the top of his game. The smooshing and bubbling of synths wrap around the whisper of acoustic guitar with the only grit coming from the splat of the snare. Johnny’s voice is as mellifluous as ever, soft and pliant like the slime. There is a gentle and reflective melancholy to this song inspired, as it is, by the “weary acceptance of time moving forward, a relationship’s end, the quiet endurance of emotional disaster and the feeling of life slipping through your fingers, like so much slime.” So much great art is inspired by sadness and upheaval, and channelling that into song writing is cathartic. As is, I imagine, being covered in 170 litres of pink slime.
Pictish Trail has long been one of my favourite all time artists, on record and live. There are many ways to buy and stream the Life Slime album including the fan first / tour exclusive pre-release Primordial Blue-In-Pink Goo Edition which is available to order now on vinyl and CD via Fire Records and Lost Map.
Pictish Trail: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube
Review by Paul F Cook
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