The new musical video from Transgalactica, "Danse Macabre," appears to be a strange, drunken love affair between the classical composition of centuries past and modern existential rumination. Drawing inspiration from the similarly titled classic by Camille Saint-Saëns, the band modifies the quick-waltzing melody while incorporating choruses that lend the piece a familiar yet unsettlingly new energy. When the bridge arrives, with a little nod to Bach and his Christmas Oratorio, you know it's going to be quite a ride, tradition colliding head-on with eccentricity.
The first thing that comes to your mind is just how much Transgalactica's cough owes to classical influence. There are none of the guitars already shredding through Camino Reel, no pounding drums, just the eerie interplay of synthesizers and strange rumblings conjuring an atmosphere that's simultaneously darkly theatrical and otherworldly. It's a band unafraid to embrace its music-making practices, the old and new ground that it shares, and how something as weighty as symphonic expression can fold into something as testament to our times with such ease.
"Danse Macabre" is a lyric tightrope act. Transgalactica quotes a few paragraphs from Steven Pinker on illogical reasoning and dysfunctional thinking habits. There is a playful subversion in the words that lead listeners to confront their own pessimism, before gently reminding them that, statistically speaking, most people are doing better than they think. It's a heady message wrapped in a waltzing skeleton of melody, something that calls for reflection without ever preaching.
The music video reflects the dual nature of the song, being aesthetically whimsical yet with an undercurrent of discomfort. It's as if you're watching a dance by ghosts that are both touching and comforting to observe perfectly in keeping with the track's tense themes around perception and reality. With Transgalactica, classical music feels alive, vibrant, active, and intellectually provocative all at once.