Directing duo rubberband. have created a mesmerising film for the return of Steve Lacy, using minimalism to draw the viewer into their distinctive take on the horror genre.

As the camera does a 360-degree pan within a fenced-off area in a factory setting, Lacey comes in and out of shot to perform the Latin-flavoured Mercury. This motion control-driven device to frame the performance is the core of the video, but then rubberband. begin to disrupt our expectations.

Halfway through the piece, an animal briefly appears walking outside the fence. The tone has now unexpectedly shifted, and the viewer is suddenly aware of a likely interaction between this creature and Lacy. 

Tension begins to crank up - confirmed by a flash of fur in front of the camera shortly afterwards. From then on Lacy is as much off screen as on-screen, and when he appears, his clothes are increasingly shredded.

Shot by award winning cinematographer Evan Profosky on 35mm film, the video takes far less than its brief two minute and 30 second runtime to create a sense of sinister foreboding and creeping horror. The concept works to apply the classic horror formula, that what you (mostly) cannot see is more terrifying. It also captures the increasingly hard-edged energy of Mercury, the first of highly anticipated new material from Lacy.