Premiere: Double Winter confront the male gaze with new video for 'Oxen's Eye'

The last time Metro Times checked in with Detroit's Double Winter they were gracing the 2018 incarnation of our annual bands to watch roundup.

At the time, Holly Johnson (vocals and bass), Morgan McPeak (drums), Augusta Morrison (electric violin), and Vittorio Vettraino (guitar) were scheming on how to properly follow their well-received 2016 EP, Watching Eye. As promised and with eerily good timing, Double Winter released their latest video for "Oxen's Eye" as well as a 7'' on Crystal Palace records, which they'll be slinging and celebrating tonight at Marble Bar.

"You wouldn't dare," Johnson, Morrison, and Vettraino scowl on "Oxen's Eye"  a song that has been in steady rotation during Double Winter's live shows.
Starring Amanda Bramble, Natalie Gersabeck, and directed by friend of the show Noah Elliott Morrison, the video features a spooky tarot reading and,  perhaps, a haunted elixir in the form of wine. As Johnson says, though, the track is less about the occult and more about dismantling the male gaze and the illusion of control.

"We wanted to capture surrealism with a super creepy vibe," she adds. "There's a spirit guide that's in control of the situation. Controlled chaos is something we try to explore." 

"It was also in a dream," Morrison says. "When you’re dreaming you can play with control and spirits we wanted to explore that and interpreting dreams. I'm very into tarot and astrology and pulling symbols from my horoscope and looking at how it relates to our every day."

The band's self-titled 7'' boasts another roaring and hook-heavy track "Fall On Your Face," and for Vettraino, pairing it with "Oxen's Eye" was a conscious choice in moving their art forward.

"We felt these two songs really captured a lot of energy and fast and quick and catchy. These represent more of a progression as we age as a band and where we want to get to as a band." 

As for the rest of the year? Double Winter will hit the road in November and by the new year, hope to have a blueprint of their next move — releasing their debut full length.

"We want people to know that we're actually trying to be a band by touring and making music regularly," Vettraino says. "So many times people are like 'Oh my god, I didn’t know your band was actually good.' We’re trying to change peoples minds like, we’re not just friends who hang out."

Vettraino's bandmates laugh because, yeah, they are that, too.

Double Winter will perform wsg Vespre at 9 p.m. at Marble Bar; 1501 Holden St., Detroit; 313-338-3674; Tickets are $5.

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