Open Mike Eagle has shared a new video for the lead single “I’ll Fight You” from his upcoming album Component System with the Auto Reverse, he will also be playing The Happiness of Pursuit (THOP) Fest on Oct. 1 in Ontario, CA. If you missed the track the first time around the track is a retro-bathed player that served as an introduction to the timewarp that exists on the upcoming mixtape — one that pines for the late 90s. Diamond D provides the track’s lackadaisical, jazz-infused beats as Open Mike Eagle dishes out meandering bars about outrunning annihilation and writing raps on a Megabus.
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Like the other two singles from the album, “I’ll Fight You” unabashedly mingles the past with the present for the explicit purpose of revealing the rising crises in both. The music video for the track — made with the help of Stray Films — takes a more lighthearted approach to the defiant melancholy that’s cranked out of the song. “A home movie of a funeral celebrating the life and death of 1997,” was how Eagle described the concept of the video. “There’s a lot of grief and anger about what was lost. Solitary non-acceptance of the temporary.”
Of course, that’s Eagle underneath the massive stereo system on his head, which he removes just once in the film. As horns blare in the background, his bars echoing concussive but soothing, you see shots of an analog stereo man in intense grief. The source of his loss? A coffin in his backyard filled with a variety of vintage, nostalgia-covered devices that need cassettes to work and plenty of wires to function. Eventually, the mask comes off and Eagle places his stereo head into the coffin (but not before dabbing some tears with a tissue) and then even the camera goes into the coffin. And once it closes the film goes from solemn home video to an explosive array of infrared duplicate Eagles rapping away.
Visit Open Mike Eagle on his website, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
His album Component System with the Auto Reverse is out on Oct. 7 via Auto Reverse Records, pre-order it here. Open Mike Eagle will be performing at THOP Fest in Ontario on Oct. 1.
Open Mike Eagle tour
10/1 – Ontario, CA @ THOP Fest w/ Reason, The Far Side
10/21 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue w/ Dessa
10/23 – Des Moines, IA @ XBK w/ Dessa
10/25 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre w/ Dessa
10/26 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen w/ Dessa
Words by Steven Ward
Watch the music video for Open Mike Eagle’s single “I’ll Fight You” below!
