Video of the Week: Pretty Little Demons “Unknown Species”

All week, Loser City is running Twin Peaks and David Lynch themed content in honor of the release of the new Twin Peaks boxed set, which comes out tomorrow, July 29th. Which is why this week’s Video of the Week comes from Pretty Little Demons, who enlisted David Lynch’s granddaughter Syd to help with make-up and even got the Log Lady to introduce the video.

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People often assume that David Lynch is an artist who just makes things weird for weirdness’ sake, but the true appeal of all things Lynch is how quaint and, well, normal he makes his weirdness seem. Lynch’s canon is devoted to the strangeness that can be found in otherwise normal locations, habitats and people, whether it’s family dinners in Eraserhead or the small town life of Twin Peaks. Obviously Lynch’s work also features a tremendous amount of horror and terror, but at the heart of his aesthetic is a child-like sense of wonder and amazement and absolute belief in the magic of oddity. All this helps explain how a precocious adolescent duo called Pretty Little Demons went from being Ryan Gosling-approved to recruiting the world of Twin Peaks to fill out the background of their quirky tune “Unknown Species.”

“Unknown Species” kicks off with an introduction from Twin Peaks’ Log Lady, who ruminates on her belief that all species experience birth but not all species– like, say, demons– experience death. From there we join some scientists who aren’t quite what they seem, one of whom is completely fixated by what’s happening underneath the lens of her microscope. Travelling down to the microscope slide we finally encounter the Pretty Little Demons, who are in a Red Room, moving and speaking in the herky-jerky rhythms of the Man From Another Place. Like Lynch’s own music, the song has elements of gritty blues, but the vocal cadence and delivery is a smoother take on Lynch’s bizarre, childlike songwriting. Lead demon Lydia Night has a giant voice for such a small pixie, and it’s tempting to read her lyrics as a manifesto for the Night family at large, since her father Morgan, who directed the video, has also served stints as everything from a pirate radio DJ to a club owner to the proprietor of a drive-in theatre. Though the video and music are both more audience friendly than the bulk of Lynch’s ouevre, I imagine Lynch was pleased with the results and would eagerly embrace these Demons as worthwhile citizens of his weird corner of the world.

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Nick Hanover got his degree from Disneyland, but he’s the last of the secret agents and he’s your man. Which is to say you can find his particular style of espionage here at Loser City as well as Ovrld, where he contributes music reviews and writes a column on undiscovered Austin bands.  You can also flip through his archives at  Comics Bulletin, which he is formerly the Co-Managing Editor of, and Spectrum Culture, where he contributed literally hundreds of pieces for a few years. Or if you feel particularly adventurous, you can always witness his odd .gif battles with Dylan Garsee on twitter: @Nick_Hanover