Oozing with more creativity than what most could only dream of having, Jordan Galland continues to navigate his career in various areas. Case in point-his most recent voyage into film. His first feature, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2009 and was released theatrically by Indican Pictures. His second film, Alter Egos, premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival in 2012 and was released by Kevin Smith’s Smodcast label through Phase 4 Films.  Galland’s most recent film was the 2016 release Ava’s Possessions.
As much spotlight has been put on Galland’s budding film career, we shouldn’t forget his notoriety within the music world. Fronting the late ’90s act Dopo Yume, Galland has had the distinct pleasure of opening for Sean Lennon and Rufus Wainwright. Galland has also collaborated with musician Mark Ronson on various projects, which includes Galland and his friend Domino Kirke’s band Domino’s Adults Only in 2008.
On July 14th, Galland will be releasing his latest EP Manhattan. Having grown up within the area, The woozy synth-pop Manhattan is being dubbed as a “bittersweet lament of homage to Galland’s home town, written from the rare perspective of someone who’s never known a home other than the teeming metropolis”.
Ghettoblaster is proud to premiere the video for the single “Adaption”.
Here’s Galland on the video:
“The Adaptation video is kind of a metaphor for growing pains, how awkward those moments are when we’re in the midst of transformation, whether we’re going through a break up or just growing up. On the immediate level, the drawings are clearly motionless images, flickering into motion, hovering on the brink of being animated and coming to life, but always remaining on the threshold, so the movement is half-realized.
The pictures themselves are like snap shots from different stories, asking what came before or what will come after, whether it’s a monster appearing by a girl playing solitaire in the dark, or an older man whispering into a younger woman’s ear or a cowboy with a burning town behind him, it’s meant to evoke the feeling of being at a turning point. There’s probably no going back, but what lies ahead is unknown. I think that’s a feeling the whole world can relate to, especially America, and especially right now.
I wanted the drawings to feel familiar, like they’re made with some household markers and pens, or drawn on a notebook after class, copied from some familiar movies or photographs or other old comics, and tweaked slightly so it’s not clear where it’s from. Because it’s in those types of sketches and drawings that we often sense the subconscious at work, the force steering us towards that transformation. Some of the humans in the drawings have turned into animal-hybrid creatures, literally playing with the idea of adapting to their environment. The song itself was born of such familiar phrases turning the other way, zigging when they would normally zag.
I would expect the lyric to be something like: “Let go of your fear. Don’t be afraid, I’m here with you.” So instead I wanted to flip it: “Let go of your fearlessness, be afraid with me.” It’s telling you on the one hand that it’s ok to feel fear, but it’s also trying to seduce you into being afraid, and settle into that as a normal condition. In that reversal of what one might expect, there’s a whole range of emotions. It’s funny, sad, seductive, dark… My aim is always to tell a whole story in a song or video, or explore moments that imply a larger story at work, that started before and continues after the song is done playing.”

Manhattan will be available July 14th via Slush Puppy Music.  To pre-order the album, click here.
Photo credit: Heidi Hartwig
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