Formed in 2019 from lead singer/songwriter Angus Watt‘s desire to provoke more dancing within the Victoria, B.C. indie music community, Pastel Blank carries on the torch of such genre-defying luminaries as Talking Heads and Women. Kaleidoscopic guitarwork blends together jagged jabs of funk, soft shades of bossa-nova, and punchy disco beats to create a listening experience that flows between the grooves of indie rock, prog-pop, and new wave.
Produced by longtime band member and musical polymath Connor Head, “Dopamine” is the second single from Pastel Blank‘s forthcoming debut album. One of Watt‘s desires for the recording in-studio was for the single to express the excitement and playfulness of the soon-to-be infamous Pastel Blank live show. “Dopamine” is about the moment when you realize you’ve been flipping between apps like you’re checking an empty fridge for the 10th time, hoping to feed your receptors something that feels as good as the younger days of however long ago you picked up your phone.
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically?
“Dopamine is about screen addiction and the most mindless forms of doom-scrolling. I’ve spent more time than I care to admit watching the most inane bottom of the barrel content, like a split-screen edit of a podcast excerpt paired with Subway Surfer (or Temple Run for the old-heads). It’s funny to think that low effort, hyper-stimulating content can release some of the same chemicals you experience when you’re in love – there couldn’t be two more different experiences!
2.What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?
For the video, I wanted a phones-eye view of someone deep in a doomscroll, like a drawn out version of that split second when your screen goes black and all you can see is your reflection behind a bunch of grubby fingerprints. I wanted the dancing to look like someone who’s being forced to do a TikTok dance over and over. Patrick Macht and Micah Henry, two super talented folks who I’ve had the pleasure of working with on all the videos for this album, designed the creepy screen mask I’m wearing in the video.
3.What was the process of making this video?
We went to a parking lot in Vancouver after dark and I danced around in the screen mask, totally unable to see anything, while the crew called out directions to me. Micah drove around me in his mini-van, with a crazy lighting rig attached to the roof, making it look like some sort of alien observation vehicle.”
Modern Mystery 