Holly Overton in Prospect Park with a symbolic window blinds prop made by the artist for live performances; photographed by Rodrigo Courtney on 35mm film.

Forces of the mystic realm have beguiled the human conscious since time immemorial. From the discovery of elements like fire, to the dawning of communicative language, and developments of written/documented expression; history has long concerned itself with the interplay that occurs between areas of the unknown and the earthly grounds of the material world. The shadow play chicanery that philosophers, false prophets, maniacal self-proclaimed messiahs, the flimflam of shiny charlatans, and other such dubious demagogues peddle and trade in as tall-tale myths dressed up in the poetic garb of concrete absolutist truths.

Regardless of personal subscription, and/or rejection, of any such fantastical system of belief leaves a door open to the curiosities as to what wonders are at work behind the mechanizations of the sciences. While we have the advent of doppler radar, fancy computer chips, machine learning technology locked in an arms race to usurp the scope of the human mind, and no shortage of dusty, all but unreadable, obsolete religious liturgy: one can’t help but ponder what mysteries guide the outer-lands of the unseen. Schools of thought, the finite hubris of technology and religiosity can only account for so much. As we stroll down the lonesome and strange boulevards of sprawling cities, lost states, tiny towns, vast suburban villages, and the like — there are often kernels of magic at work that abound beyond the immediate detectable view of the senses.

Observing these abstractions of the ethereal and ephemeral multiverses of the supernatural is Brooklyn by way of Outer Banks, NC polymath Holly Overton with the debut of “The Hanged Man Card”. Musician and oil painting MFA via the New York Studio School presents a work that extends beyond the surfaces of artistic mediums for something from the great beyond. Working with Hanna-Katarina coast-to-coast to convey something that expands time, space, sensibility, spirituality, and other extensions of the self outside the rhythms of routine and rheumatism: Overton invites us to enter worlds of change, challenge, and immersions of actualization that we might have never before known (or considered).

“The Hanged Man Card” takes us to the edges of the earth to offer new callings away from the drudgery of daily itineraries and rituals that no longer serve us. Recorded at Spaceman Sound in Greenpoint, Brooklyn by Chris Pickering and Kegan Zema with mastering by Mikey Young; Holly Overton delivers a song that celebrates a full renewal of the spirit that transcends time, place, art, crafts, and occupation. Open ended meditations and prayers are cast out into the universe in the pursuit of new hopes of a better degree of fulfillment and foundation of body, mind, talents, and spirit. "Card" casts the audience into the auspices of the astral plane to encounter new truths, realizations and revelations to find better purposes and points of groundation away from the alluvial edges of sinking sands. Holly subverts and seeks to obliterate the pretenses of the labels we apply to ourselves, others, our work, our joy, our meanings, and more in motions that aspire for something that may (or may not) be prescribed by the ancient and metaphysical orders that are outside the limit and confines of our finite and limited understanding.

The video directed by Hanna-Katarina illuminates Holly's pop paean to the heavens and spiritual realm into an art house odyssey that oscillates between NYC and the edges of the Pacific Ocean. Overton is seen in business attire on the edge of a California cliff punching away at a laptop before fleeing toward new frontiers of unlimited fascination. The inception of the song that began as a concept sparked by a tarot reading at home on the artist’s fire escape is recreated visually as a communion with enchanted entities that offer new changes of endless possibilities. From the entrancing streets of Chinatown, the rugged beauty of Mendocino, Fort Bragg, and other such destinations: “The Hanged Man Card” is an odyssey that embraces that sea changes that arrive from sources of potential divination that abounds beyond the barriers of comprehension.

Holly Overton provided expansive reflections on the inception and visuals for the new single:

“The Hanged Man Card” came about one fall night on my fire escape in Brooklyn. I was facing the desperate need for a big change, and I pulled the hanged man tarot card. It guided me toward a necessary pause; separating me from identities or labels. I took the space and mustered the bravery to start again without concern for losing what I previously built my life to be. Specifically, I was exhausted all the time and felt alone in my personal relationships. The necessary pause resulted in going back to school for oil painting, rearranging my personal relationships by saying what I need, and moving; essentially prioritizing what makes me fulfilled.
The music video is directed by friend and artist Hanna-Katarina. She styled it with medieval costume design and we made props and costume pieces to look like the Tarot of Marseilles, created in Italy in the 15th century. We held to the primary color palette of the deck, making the costumes and props with solid colors of red, yellow and blue.

Looking beyond the framed borderlines with Holly Overton; press photo courtesy of the artist’s Bandcamp.

We filmed in several surreal locations; running across the rocky coast of Mendocino (CA), the sand dunes of Fort Bragg (CA), and Chinatown in Manhattan.
While this song was forming, I had a weekly drawing class at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I became obsessed with the medieval wing. I would spend four hours a week with one painting or sculpture, etc. I would bring a drawing board and 18x24” sheet of paper to draw them. I drew a wooden sculpture of several hooded figures carrying and caressing Jesus’s limp body after he was taken down from the cross. This sculpture and my drawing helped shape the mood of The Hanged Man Card; deep remorse and adoration. I am seduced by the figures gestures, facial expressions and shadowy mystery under the cloaks. People in medieval times believed so strongly in the supernatural powers of Christianity that they made art that wept with sadness and joy at the same time. I admire their belief in things unseen. The night I pulled the hanged man tarot card, there was a mystical force swirling through the trees and sparkling in the cityscape skyline. I felt a breeze (sigh) of relief from the unknown.

Listen to more from Holly Overton via Bandcamp.

PREMIERE Holly Overton, "The Hanged Man Card"