Earlier this year, two works from Count the Clock were covered on the Cinema Smack site. Count the Clock is an artist’s collective based in Los Angeles that specializes in free short form themed content. The two works covered on the site were an excellent short film from Zach Lorkiewicz, entitled The Ball, and an online art gallery called C10 Pop. The gallery featured video, audio, music, digital art, and poetry from nine different artists. Now, Count the Clock returns with a new project: the visual album, Pop Horror Made Me Do It.
The album consists of six music videos designed and directed by Zach Lorkiewicz with music from Michael Coe. Like the collective’s previous work, there’s a huge emphasis on vibrant colors, catchy tunes, quirkiness, and unease. All of the videos are less than two minutes each with some being even less than one minute. Regardless of the brief runtime, the videos have that off-the-wall Count the Clock feel that pulls you in immediately.
The first video shares its name with the album title, Pop Horror Made Me Do It. Backed by a catchy and repetitive club-like song, the video calls to mind something like Alice in Wonderland with its props, playing card suits/colors, and mention of the “white rabbit.” The followup video, Wuthering Heights, is more reminiscent to something like Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2016 film, The Neon Demon, with its lighting, music, and modeling influences. It’s also, arguably, the most visually and aurally stunning of the entire collection. Then there’s the haunting quality of Black Hole followed by the safe haven of a Barbie dream house in the understandably titled Dream House. The album is rounded out by the brief, rapid fire, one-two punch of GOD is TAYLOR SWIFT and GOD is KIM KARDASHIAN.
Like the rest of their work, Pop Horror Made Me Do It has all the typical Count the Clock traits. That’s most certainly not a bad thing. While their work isn’t for everyone, there’s something hypnotic and addicting about it. Check out the full visual album, Pop Horror Made Me Do It, below.
