Genre-twisting Tulsa Trio Freely Conjures Strange Imagery in New Music Video for Latest Single
Lavish Obituaries is like an experiment without a hypothesis. Recently formed in the nebulous era of the 2020 pandemic, the Tulsa-based trio has been putting an impressive deal of creative energy into its creations, but unlike some busybodies in the industry, this wave is not building up into any specific goals on the horizon. The band of musical oddballs has no studio album on the way, and touring is an afterthought at best. No, Lavish Obituaries is just out to make cool shit.
Since kicking off its studio work several months back with the stellar “Shotgun to the Moon”, the group has dealt in a scattershot taste of styles and lyrical whims that are united by its potpourri nature. Mixing chunks of indie pop, rap, and neosoul (to name a few), the trio has an organic chemistry that relishes in its devil-may-care instincts.
Although the group teases release dates and rocks a mysterious social media aesthetic like no other, it’s not to cynically push sales or make numbers. Rather, the band seems to simply love the entire process of sharing its art; it refreshingly finds joy within the grind by turning business moves into a natural extension of the artistic process. With an honorary fourth member behind the camera, the group puts as much care into its DIY theatrics as it does its music.
If it wasn’t already evident that the band is in it for the artistic fulfillment, its latest effort is the epitome of its self-expression. Hot on the heels of its brand new single, “Time”, Lavish Obituaries released an accompanying music video today, and you can watch it now in this Make Oklahoma Weirder premiere.
If a music video director were tasked to make a visual for “Time”, it would probably be drastically different than what Lavish Obituaries has made. The song lyrically expresses a general sense of impending pressure along a dance-ready track, and those elements could easily make for a slick, plot-fueled production. Lavish Obituaries, however, continues to lead with its gut by exploring the mysterious inner consciousness of its masked muses.
Set pieces in “Time” include dolled-up, mustached French maids dusting a house, bleak clowns loitering in an alley, and a cake coming to an untimely end in the woods. It’s a delightfully askew series of visuals that would border on the avant-garde if not for the soundtrack. Unexplained symbolism is everywhere, and the standard television aspect ratio alone lends itself to an unconventional air. What, then, does it all mean? The answer is deceptively simple: whatever it feels like.
Between rap verses, “Time” offers a chorus that, in a way, echoes that Andy Warhol quote. It says, “Running out of time / Not really sure for what or why / I think I overthink sometimes.” That the music video often seems improvised further validates this idea of letting go and giving in to the moment, and perhaps on a grander scale, there is some happenstance message to it all. Time is short, and life is fast, so ride the artistic wave and see what happens. Who knows? If circumstances are kind, this authenticity might just find an enthusiastic audience and lead to one of the more exciting developments to come out of Tulsa music in 2021.
To keep in touch with Lavish Obituaries, follow the band on Facebook or Instagram, and while you’re at it, check out the band photographer‘s page too!
aka Jarvix, the Chief Executive Weirdo of Make Oklahoma Weirder. His out-of-the-box music coverage has been published by the Oklahoma Gazette, KOSU, and The Oklahoman among others. He also makes DIY music as a solo multi-instrumentalist live looper in his spare time.