Meta No. 4</em>: New Release from Conor Thornton (29.10.20)

By Clara Dudley

All images courtesy of Conor Thornton

Directed, Shot & Edited by Conor Thornton

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Follow Conor Thornton on Instagram @conorthornton_ / Twitter @conor_thornton_

Listen on Spotify / Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Watch on YouTube / Vimeo

www.conorthornton.com

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Welcome to Meta No. 4, a clandestine speakeasy in the bowels of XS City … and the usual haunt of Vick Valentine, a lounge singer adrift with longing, regret, and rumination.

Meta No. 4 is the new single from Dublin-based Irish musician Conor Thornton’s concept project, ‘Despair & Devotion in XS City.’ Launching on all platforms on Thursday, October 29, the track is a churning, unsettled ballad by the fictional Valentine himself from within XS City’s Meta No. 4 - a setting developed by Thornton which seems to exist in a liminal space between a dystopic future and a nostalgic past.

*Above: Stills from the video ‘Meta No. 4’*

In Thornton’s own words, “Vick Valentine is a nightclub singer who plays the lonely lounges of XS City. Haunted by the pain in his heart and the dreams of who he thought he’d be, Vick struggles to find his place in a world he no longer recognizes.” And so Meta No. 4, the place, exists in this spiritually-anaemic, hypercapitalist future city as a ‘surreal speakeasy,’ a haven for anything ‘close to passion.’

Thornton’s creative approach is unique and wholly cross-disciplinary; as an artist, he bridges narrative, storytelling, lyricism, music, film and performance for a fully-realised concept; the elements are all cohesive in a closed circuit. As he stated to RTÉ, “the upholstery is as important as the motor – I like to create a complete picture” (Behind the Music, 19 May 2020).

“Vick Valentine is a nightclub singer who plays the lonely lounges of XS City. Haunted by the pain in his heart and the dreams of who he thought he’d be, Vick struggles to find his place in a world he no longer recognizes. ”

— Conor Thornton

*Above: visuals from ‘The Car Bar’ video*

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Meta No. 4 was recorded on a vintage 8 track reel-to-reel, and the video shot and edited by Thornton, all in his own house during 2020’s ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns. With such DIY techniques, the use of found footage, and tightly-shot frames clenched with shadow and shifting lights, the project distinctly recalls the aesthetics of David Lynch for which he cites as a major source of inspiration - and any Lynch devotee might quickly make the connection, particularly to the lounge-singer/dive bar themes of Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive, and the foreboding distortions of both orchestral and electronic elements.

And despite the fictional, almost-literary quality of XS City, reminiscent of Bladerunner-style cyberpunk worldbuilding, there is still an uncanny sense of recognition evoked in the VHS-grit of Meta No. 4 - that it could take place in either 1990s Los Angeles or 2080s Seoul.

Thornton also notes a range of creative scions as influential to his polymathic ethos: he draws on cinematic and cult classics such as Suspiria, Eyes Wide Shut, The Sopranos, Wild at Heart; literary works by Vladimir Nabokov and James Joyce; “Serge Gainsbourg’s sensuality, Stanley Kubrick’s hidden details, and Vegas-era Elvis’ fading glamour”, as well as musical influences ranging from David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Massive Attack, Portishead, Tom Waits, Gavin Friday, and the composer Angelo Badalamenti, best known for Lynch film soundtracks.

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Meta No. 4 is preceded in ‘Despair & Devotion in XS City’ by Cinema of Dreams (March 2020) and The Car Bar (May 2020).

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Update (January 2021): the last instalment of the project, ‘Blue Room’, was released 29 January 2021 — listen to Blue Room here on Spotify.