Grace Jones meets Santigold on the dancefloor to the tune of Rare DM’s latest single, “The Ring,” out tomorrow. With celestial ‘oomph and electronica-hyperpop overtones, it’s a chaotic confrontation — a disorienting question of character.
“The Ring is a journey into the chaos you created by trying to make things better,” Rare DM said. “It is about a misunderstanding – did you make it worse by addressing it in the first place? You tried to fix it and now it’s even more messed up. Who is the real enemy now? Did you ‘fuck around and find out’?”
This track arrives ahead of a string of European shows, kicking off in Berlin, and marks her first release that is “not romantic” in nature; instead, it explores the metaphor of “the rings that people try to destroy.” Armed with vintage analogue synthesizers and drum machines, she brings this motif to life in the accompanying self-directed Lynchian video, mixing jabs with moments of slipping into darkness beyond the headlights. The track is a ghostly follow-up to last year’s carnal single, “Skater Hits Me Harder.”
“In the video I am the driver, doing the chasing, being chased, in the passenger seat, and getting lost in the woods,” said Rare DM – a.k.a. singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Erin Hoagg. “It’s confusing, just as the situation behind the song was. It’s not some resolved buttoned up thing — not a friend you cut off or a lover you stopped seeing. Something cloudy and more sinister.”
Her first single, “send nudes,” filmed during the onset of pandemic isolation, captured the attention of virtual audiences and catapulted her into the public eye. Since then, Hoagg has built a loyal fanbase, touring across North America, Mexico, and Europe, and sharing stages with acts like Molchat Doma, Mareux, Model/Actriz, and Drab Majesty.
With “The Ring,” Rare DM continues to pave her own lane with a blend of chaos and clarity reflective of her artistic evolution; a fearless embrace of uncertainty and the unknown.
Ahead of her upcoming international tour dates, we’re psyched to premiere Rare DM’s brand new music video for “The Ring.” Get a first look here:
See Rare DM live:
Feb. 7 — Neue Zukunft, Berlin, DE
Feb. 9 — Grauzone Festival, The Hague, NL
Feb. 12 — IBOAT, Bordeaux, FR
Feb. 13 — La Mécanique des Fluides, Toulouse, FR
Feb. 16 — Le Molotov, Marseille, FR
The post Premiere: Rare DM’s “The Ring” (Official Music Video) first appeared on Alt Citizen.