See What Lies Beneath in Jack Silverman’s ‘Mixed Signals’

There are quite a few ways you might know Jack Silverman. In 2014, he ended a 17-year run as a Scene staffer — though he’s still a contributing editor and writes for us on occasion — to focus on his first love: playing guitar. Since then, much of his energy has been focused on Grateful Dead tribute band The Stolen Faces, which we’d call a pretty great group whether he was in it or not. He’s also joined up with the Nashville Ambient Ensemble (which we’ll have even more on in next week’s Scene) and finished a solo instrumental EP called Now What, out March 26 via Michael Eades’ YK Records.

Silverman worked on the three-track collection with much-loved producer-engineer Roger Moutenot, whose laundry list of credits includes work with Yo La Tengo, Adia Victoria and Sleater-Kinney. In a release, Silverman explains that “Mixed Signals,” a dreamy and groovy composition that conveys the feeling of being on the verge of discovering something big, is the piece that inspired for the whole project.

“I just started hearing this melody in my head, and then tried to find the chords that made it work,” Silverman says. “When I got set up, something in my guitar or pedal board was picking up radio interference, and I couldn’t get rid of it. When I turned up the volume, I realized it was a radio preacher. So I figured, hit RECORD. Some of those demo tracks are in the final mix, including the preacher.”

Today, we’re very pleased to premiere the track's animated music video by Ben Marcantel and G. Seth West, who you’ll know from their respective innovative musical projects Sugar Sk*-*lls and Financier. In the piece, they mirror Silverman’s somewhat Glenn Snoddy-esque embrace of a fault. In the beginning, they lay out a very ordinary-looking, clean and quiet house. Soon, however, glitches in the fabric of reality begin to reveal a totally different picture.

Check it out above, and preorder Now What via the Bandcamp embed below. Keep an eye on Silverman’s website for updates.