Atlanta’s Challenger Deep Release ‘Immersive’ New Video
By: Chapman Suther
Atlanta instrumental math-rock outfit Challenger Deep have released a new video that demands attention from the start. Aptly titled “Immersive,” this track is as catchy, fun and technical as its video is.
The opening of the video drops the viewer into the forest, at the mouth of a cave. A group of cavemen can be seen scouring the area and banging rocks and other objects. The rhythmic sounds in the video serve as the lead-in for the recorded track, with the primitive noises becoming more focused as the song starts. We see the group begin to dance around and gather more resources — vines, sticks, and other objects that serve as their tools, their instruments.
Air-guitar solos, dancing, and trying to start a fire are the focus for the group as they slowly expand their understanding and abilities. The music itself reflects these changes as the characters evolve. The guitar riffs, drum fills, and melodies become much more intricate and defined as the characters become more cognitive, changing from a rough and loose, almost primitive sound to a decidedly more technical, precise movement.
It is during this period we see an otherworldly greenish light appear, and then a man appears, dressed in a way that clearly establishes him as a sleazy record executive. Subtitles appear in which the man coaxes the band through a portal to join him in the recording studio, a vast new world for the cave dwellers. The band’s members find themselves on the other side of the portal, in Atlanta’s Toast & Jam Studios, complete with a much more contemporary wardrobe. The band slowly acclimates to the recording process, and the music reflects the change.
A favorite joke in the video is the vocal recording session. As mentioned, Challenger Deep is an instrumental band; when it comes time for recording the vocals for their song, the music cuts out, and the band is seen in a circle around a microphone. Although a valiant effort, their grunting is out of sync and out of tune. The producer assures the band that they’ve gotten the vocal take, but then is seen shaking his head and deleting the track altogether before the music returns.
Another humorous moment is the group taking a break from recording to learn about a highly relevant cultural gem: “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
The band continues weaving patterns and hammering the rhythm to head toward the end of the track, where the musicians have become a decidedly tighter and more polished band both musically and aesthetically. A brief flashback to the mouth of the cave and the primitive version of the group marks the progress made within the video.
Challenger Deep is a group of guys growing musically, adapting and evolving to better fit each other sonically. “Immersive” is a strong path in this direction, leaving an open door for the band to experiment from here on out.
