Squarepusher Detroit People MoverWatch at the source

Official Video for Squarepusher's ‘Detroit People Mover’ directed by Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman.

There had long been an intention to shoot a video for this piece on the Detroit People Mover itself. As production got under way, it was apparent that the typically empty train has a peculiar resonance with the desolation settling on urban areas across the world. Director Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman explores our new-found isolation on a driver-less journey through the city, contrasting it with human contact in images from Detroit’s history produced by an correspondingly autonomous printer.

This bleak urban portrait serves as a drastic contrast to Squarepusher’s last visual representation for ‘Terminal Slam’, which with its bustling street scenes was shot just three months before, including at the busiest crossing in the world in Shibuya. These varied aesthetics not only reflect the sudden change of conditions but two very different sound worlds that co-exist within this project.

“I like the way both of these videos articulate salient points about our urban environments - in ‘Terminal Slam’ about the prevalence of advertising and possibilities for its subversion, and here regarding our zombie cities that despite the lack of everyday human contact continue marching on. The track itself is part of a series begun in 1993 inspired by the music of Detroit.” – Squarepusher