Anthony Ruptak’s new album, ‘Tourist’, is out today, the 7th of November, Dropping ahead of the album, the Colorado artist has released his new single, ‘Phantasmagoria’, accompanied by an epic music video.
Defined as “a sequence of real or imaginary images, like those seen in a dream”, ‘Phantasmagoria’ takes the listener through Ruptak’s ruminations on what has just gone on in this crazy year we’ve had. It certainly does feel like a dream, where real life political leaders gaslight us, trying to make us believe that right is wrong, and threatening us with punishment if we dare to suggest that the Emperor is not wearing any clothes.
Ruptak himself says ‘Phantasmagoria’ is “a broad collection of ruminations on the overall state of the world in the year 2025”, and goes deeper than even this, with verses like,
well it’s a crazy goddamn hell of a mess we made
it’s a cheap-shot, tik-tok, weapon of mass decay
it’s a blue pill, phone bill, throwing it all away
it’s a crazy goddamn hell of a mess we made
and
well it’s a crazy goddamn hell of a mess we made
it’s a white collar crime, lithium mine, last of the last crusades
it a blue line, good time, less lethal hand grenade
it’s a crazy goddamn hell of a mess we made
He lays it all out on the line, no f’s given, telling us how it is. We’re staggering our way into hell, and it’s one of our own making. Sure we can make TikToks talking about how terrible it all is, but what are we actually doing about it all? Are we actually stopping the depletion of the world’s minerals, such as lithium (and this is mere days after Trump has declared he’s going after Nigeria, which is of course, rich in oil and minerals).
Truth is, we’ve all become desensitised. We all know about the suffering on a gigantic scale – Gaza, Sudan, The Congo, Ukraine, West Papua – just to name a few – but what can we do? We are caught between the knowledge of being just little people with little voices, while the billionaires run wild around the world.
Like Ruptak in his video, we are all caught up, chronically scrolling through social media, stumbling through a phantasmagorical state, sometimes not entirely sure what’s real and what’s not (case in point, all the people being fooled on the regular by increasingly realistic AI videos).
Ruptak’s video sees him trying to escape it all, with the knowledge that it’s probably too late. Scenes of him doom-scrolljng his way through life, at home, or in the city, missing out on all that’s going on around him, are interspersed with footage of him running through the forest, away from the apocalyptic destruction that follows him. He tumbles and falls from time to time, and even without his phone, he still misses seeing things like Big Foot running past. In the end, he gives up and allows himself to be buried by a crew wielding shovels, and continues to scroll on his phone right to the seeming end – before coming to his senses and realising that there’s much more to life.
Watch the music video for ‘Phantasmagoria’ below, and find out more about Anthony Ruptak and his music online on his official website, Instagram, Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube.
