WATCH: Try to Survive the Pacific Northwest in Damien Jurado’s “Exit 353” Music Video

“In my mind, Damien is on the verge of leaving this world and disappearing into anonymity.”
WATCH: Try to Survive the Pacific Northwest in Damien Jurado’s “Exit 353” Music Video

“In my mind, Damien is on the verge of leaving this world and disappearing into anonymity.”

Words: FLOOD Staff

January 12, 2016

Damien Jurado‘s new music video for “Exit 353” takes viewers on an uncomfortable journey of a mother using her daughter and a kind stranger (Jurado himself) to survive on the fringe of society. “Exit 353,” the lush lead single off of Jurado’s upcoming album Visions of Us on the Land, soundtracks the duo’s tragic and cinematic travels in the misty Pacific Northwest. We don’t know why they’re resorting to carjacking and thievery, but they clearly care for each other and won’t let anyone get in their way.

The video’s director Elise Tyler elaborated on what makes “Exit 353” so haunting, and why Jurado is the unlucky stiff who picked them up on the side of the road:

Damien has a strong history of cinematic music videos, so I felt very free to explore narrative and image with Exit 353. I was inspired by the haunting landscapes of the Pacific Northwest; it is a perfect backdrop for Damien’s music, which clearly originates from the towering pine trees, dense fog, and winding hills of the region. We explored the area and created a world where two seemingly vulnerable young women are more powerful than one may think. In my mind, Damien is on the verge of leaving this world and disappearing into anonymity. He is pulled back momentarily by these young women who perhaps need his help- but he quickly realized that he should have never been seduced back into society, that he was and is alone among men.

Watch the video below.

Visions of Us on the Land is out March 18 on Secretly Canadian.