WL//WH Video of the Day: THE HOUSE FLIES “Lost Literature” (Official Music Video)

Video Of The Day The House Flies

Officially started in January 2023 with the release of their first four-track EP, “Glimmer,” followed a year later by the debut full-length “Mannequin Deposit,” The House Flies are a four-piece dark alternative/post-punk band from Moline, Illinois.

The Midwest outfit, made up of Alex Riggen (vocals, guitar), Ozzie Woods (bass), Nick Pompou (drums), and latest addition Burnie Eckhardt on backing guitar, unveil the DIY Official Music Video for “Lost Literature,” the second single from the sophomore album, “Lions and Ore,” due out on November 5th via Wilhelm & Sons Entertainment Company.

Dark, textured, physical. Lions and Ore is seven songs of post-punk, gothic rock and heavy guitar music built around repetition, patience and big shifts in dynamics. It’s the most expansive record we’ve made, with songs that move from quiet, tense passages into much heavier territory.the band explains

The rhythm section stays locked into a consistent pulse while vocal phrases return again and again around questions of who someone is, who they were, and what remains when memory starts to slip out of order. That repetition gives the song a circular quality without slowing its momentum, making it one of the album’s most immediately accessible tracks.

Set on a highway at night with a dim radio transmission to conjure a seemingly endless, poignant nostalgia,

“Lost Literature” revolves around the circling resonant, crashing pulse of a steady punchy snare drum alongside low, rugged gurgling bass lines, and subtle, rhythmic tapping and melancholic, weeping string-like keyboard washes, daubed by glistening guitar reverberations, slowly encompassing layers of wistful, anxious, male vocals, and somber ghostly backups, lost in a surreal, spinning carousel of rental cars, a porch light, and words left behind, ‘And who you are, And who you were, It grows and goes on and on.’

The accompanying video takes that forward motion somewhere stranger. Handmade marionettes move through a spare wooden room in faded 4:3 imagery, alternating between full-body movement and close views of painted faces, beadwork, fabric, strings and feet. The worn, tactile look keeps the video connected to the visual world of Lions and Ore without turning it into a conventional performance video.

An old-fashioned Asian man marionette dances with his shadow while a dragon/bird puppet, wearing jeweled armor, keenly watches from the side. The puppet work is thoughtfully done to bring out the intimate, emotional quality of the soundtrack in sync with the manipulated facial expressions of the doll.

The House Flies‘ sophomore album, “Lions and Ore,” arrives November 6 through Wilhelm & Sons Entertainment Company imprint on Bandcamp, all major streaming platforms and a limited run of 100 black 12-inch vinyl copies.

The band will celebrate the album’s release that night at Raccoon Motel in Davenport, Iowa, with King of the Weirdos, Company Dimes and Half Loves.

Keep up with The House Flies: