Watch Wolfgang Tillmans’ Enchantingly Dark Video for SALEM’s Remix of His New Single

At the beginning of August, it was announced that pioneering witch house group SALEM would return with their first new material in over five years. Curiously, the person to relay this information was lauded photographer and recent Frank Ocean collaborator Wolfgang Tillmans, of all people. He said that the band has a new album forthcoming, and that they had also done a remix of one of his original productions, “Make It Up As You Go Along,” describing it as “super dense, highly abstracted from the original, [with] an irresistible magic and pull.”

Now that foretold remix has a music video, directed and filmed by Tillmans himself on location in Fire Island, New York. It consists entirely of footage of surf on the beach edited in a morose yet enchanting color palate, which pairs well with the song’s gothically misanthropic drama. Speaking to The FADER about the video, he explained, “The movement of the ocean is so totally beyond our control. It is forever larger than us. It cannot really be grasped, and can be perceived as scary or comforting. By slowing the film down the seawater gets the illusion of different viscosity, more like oil.”

In the interview, he also gave some explanation for why it’s been so long since we’ve heard from SALEM, and hinted at what their new album might sound like. “They had gone through some problems in the last few years and didn’t find it easy to continue after the wave of excitement they initially created,” he said. “They are finally confident to keep the best of their original sound and reconnect with where we are now.”

The remix is off Tillmans’ recently released Device Control EP.

Frank Ocean recently confirmed that Tillmans took him to Berghain, which eventually led to one of the photographer’s tracks ending up on Endless.

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