While Pickwick’s 2017 album LoveJoys saw the band embracing more psychedelic elements into their smooth blend of R&B and rock music, no one could have anticipated the band going full metaphysical and starting their own cult. In the music video for “Thought It Was You,” lead vocalist Galen Disston does exactly that. Or, should I say, “Glean” starts a cult.
The video starts innocuous enough with a group of average looking folks gathering in a community center room, laying out pamphlets next to a decadent spread of cheese balls and punch. Things start to get weird as “Team Leader Bonnie” turns on a DVD introducing the core tenants of the LoveJoys community. Disston’s face slowly comes into view as the bizarre, CGI presentation walks through the phases of LoveJoys from “The Path to Ascension” through awakening your own LoveJoys. Disston’s eyes may be the most unsettling part of the strangely eerie video – an unblinking and unrelenting gaze.
“‘Thought it Was You’ is my favorite song from Lovejoys and cults have been a favorite subject of mine for years now,” Disston tells KEXP of the video. “My old window washing boss was a musical evangelist for the Rajneesh movement playing saxophone on college campuses. I’d like to think he got involved on the ground level before all the Netflix fanfare, in a setting similar to the one where the video is set.”
It’s a wild and bizarre ride with Disston filling in the role of enigmatic deity exceptionally. I’m still not totally sure what “the ascension is,” but I’m just about ready to fill out a waiver and see what Glean has to offer. Watch the video below.
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