Premiere: John Van Deusen drops video for “Whatever Makes You Mine”

John Van Deusen is an artist you may have some familiarity with. He has previously performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and was crowned NPR’s Best New Artists back in 2011. This was a different time and era in his career, in which he crafted what you would define as “radio-friendly” singles, earning support from KEXP, Alt-Nation and 107.7 The End in Seattle. But, this radio friendly quality of Van Deusen only became more clear as time went on and we got more and more solo work from this extravagant artist.

His music is aggressively honest and thematically rich, perhaps best described as power-pop. The candidness of his lyrics stick out the most, his musical style takes influence from a wide variety of artists, resulting in an indie-rock sound that is new and exciting, yet comfortably familiar at times as well. While oftentimes his lyrics reflect his faith — and his struggles with it at times — he’s never afraid to touch on issues of doubt, depression, and even suicide with just as much earnestness. This intimacy and vulnerability are admirable, leaving us with cathartic and gripping music.

John Van Deusen creates this music to be so engaging, mostly due to just simply being himself and giving us his true identity. This is most recently explored in his album series, titled (I Am) Origami. He’s released the first two parts already, and part 3 — (I Am) Origami Pt. 3 — A Catacomb Hymn — will be dropped tomorrow, July 19th via Tooth & Nail Records. This third release from Van Deusen aims to be his most raw and personal release yet, focusing on fear, doubt, and depression — serving almost as a little note expressing that it’s simply okay to not be feeling your best at times.

A day ahead of album release, we’re excited here to team up with Van Deusen to premiere the brand new music video for his song, “Whatever Makes You Mine.”

“The music video for ‘Whatever Makes You Mine’ was a collaboration between myself and director Ben Park. Ben and I had been discussing the possibility of writing and shooting a short horror film…and then we decided we could start with a music video to see how it felt working together. We really had a great time shooting this video near the Salton Sea east of San Diego; it’s a hauntingly beautiful place. The beginning of the video features Slab City, a legendary desert community. The vehicle I’m driving around is my own car, ‘Elsa’. She’s the best,” he tells Substream. “The creature that stalks me is supposed to be a combination of Sasquatch and something more cosmic. Obviously, it represents my own dark side. The theme of tension and duality within my own personality is prevalent on the album; I wanted to represent it visually in a simple and clear way.”