by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
A lot of folks weren’t all that productive in the pandemic years, but Hadley, MA’s EIEIEIO are not a lot of folks. The trio - comprised of Max Goldstein (Maxshh, Rong), Zosia Kochanski (Wishbone Zoe), and Sam Brivic (Crimson Blue, Tundrastomper), are all musicians and artists with seemingly limitless capabilities, whether they’re working on avant-garde pop or expansive prog. In the case of EIEIEIO, they released four EPs in the span of a year, each with a frantic chaos, mixing the technicality and reckless nature of Tera Melos or Hella with the accessibility and brevity of Guided By Voices or Deerhoof. Their songs are short, hooky, and utterly wild. This past weekend saw the first anniversary of EIEIEIO and Gorgeous’ split cassette, and for all who celebrate, we have not one but two (!) brand new videos from the EIEIEIO team.
“OKOKOK" is directed by the band’s own Zosia Kochanski, whose video work we’ve raved about in the past, and whelp, we’re going to rave about it again, because this video packs in so much great hand-drawn and stop motion animation, cycling through frames as fast as the song’s deranged tempo. You get a hodgepodge of wonderful ideas, from the band in animated form to manipulated camera footage, all with the lyrics so everyone can sing along. The second half of the video more or less abandons the animation, but it stays just as brilliantly weird, capturing the band in a cavalcade of shifting environments, pieced together with a natural grace while flying by a mile a minute. It’s hard to make a video as entertaining as “OKOKOK” is a song, but Kochanski has done it with ease.
EIEIEIO’s Sam Brivic directed “The Odds of Sitting Down” video, capturing the restless feeling of being at a computer for way too long (we understand) and the endless Wikipedia search for information that only seems to be retained in fragments on the best of days. It’s an endless spiral from one page to the next, blindly clicking and consuming in time with the song’s tightening tension and rhythmic rollercoaster. There’s some extra footage of a couch being thrown out a window and some ducks… because everyone needs a break from the pursuit of Wikipedia info from time to time. We’re also thrilled to see that Post-Trash is open among the tabs (thank for reading, Sam).