Cass McCombs can do no wrong. His new video for the single “I’m A Shoe”, off 2016’s Mangy Love, reveals a bleak and haunting landscape perfectly attuned to an otherworldly bleak and haunting song. Directed by frequent collaborator Rachael Pony Cassells, the video depicts McCombs wandering through the deserted town of Mare Island, Vallejo, California, “which in the chronology of California boomtown / ghost towns, directly follows the demise of Bodie”, a historic gold rush town near the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. Cassells had the following to say of the video: 

“Creation, destruction, boom, ghost. In the song ‘I’m a Shoe,’ Cass references the California boomtown / ghost town of Bodie, a town that rose to peak population in the late 1800’s gold rush. As people swarmed Bodie and scrambled to strike it rich, the town developed an unrivaled reputation for great violence, murder and a much feared figure – the ‘Bad Man of Bodie.’“

It’s no wonder McCombs, after all these years, is one of the most influential musicians of his time. He continues to mesmerize and affect us with his poignant lyrics and his incredible songwriting that somehow digs deep into your bones and holds on for dear life. Check out the video, and listen to this song, on repeat, until you feel his somber embrace. –Maya Eslami