This Is The Deep Sign To 5dB Records, Shre Video For 'Darkness and the Dawn'
- PruMai123
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
Music and art collective This Is The Deep have announced they have signed to independent label 5dB Records, the home of Mould and Martial Arts, alongside the release of a new single and accompanying video for ‘Darkness and the Dawn’.
This Is The Deep operate as a multidisciplinary project that pushes far beyond conventional band formats. Their work blends music with painted sets, handmade costumes, animation, and performance-based storytelling, building an interconnected visual and sonic universe that feels both theatrical and immersive.
The newly released track ‘Darkness and the Dawn’ offers an early glimpse into that wider world. It highlights the group’s expansive approach to songwriting, shifting between intimate, delicate passages and brighter, more celebratory bursts of orchestral pop and experimental rock energy. Drawing on influences that span alt-rock, chamber-pop, orchestral folk, and psychedelic textures, the song moves through contrasting moods while maintaining a strong melodic core.
The video accompanying the track expands this narrative language further. Directed by musician and filmmaker Pat Dam Smyth, it was filmed using a Canon SD camera and an iPhone in a waterproof case across three days on a beach in Spain at dawn and dusk. The location becomes a kind of threshold space, reinforcing the dreamlike tone of the story.
Speaking about the video, band leader Ranald Macdonald said:
“As a collective of artists as well as musicians, this video is an example of our multimedia approach to storytelling and the collaborative way we work towards a shared vision. The video brings to life the opening chapter of our upcoming concept record and by using hand-made costumes and opening credit text by our artist Lucile Heafflinger and a papier-mache mask by singer Ranny (Ranald) Macdonald, based off her designs, as well as snippets of hand-painted animation by our keys player, Angus Macdonald, is a taste of what is to come for this project. It tells the story of Dick Herman, a character who after falling asleep at his desk in fictional social media corporation, Telepix, ‘wakes up’ to find himself lying down on a sunny beach, where a spirit, a figure of nature, with the face of a golden sun, appears to him before disappearing. This, like the white rabbit in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, causes him to wade into the water in search of her. With each passing song, we journey deeper into the sea and into the character’s subconscious mind. What magic and monsters lurk there, we shall see in good time. It was shot and directed by our old friend, musician, and film-maker, Pat Dam Smyth on his Cannon SD camera (and an iphone in a waterproof case). The shoot took place on the same beach at dawn and dusk over a period of three days in November, whilst staying with our band member’s family in Spain.”
Formed by visual artist and musician Ranald Macdonald, the project brings together contributors from across the UK, Brazil, and Japan. Their sound sits in a broad avant-pop space, combining the melodic craft of writers like Burt Bacharach and Carole King with the experimental sensibilities associated with artists such as David Lynch and Aldous Harding. Across their recordings, lush Phil Spector-style arrangements layer guitars, drums, bass, strings, horns, percussion, and synths into dense but carefully structured soundscapes.
The upcoming album Everything builds on this approach as a conceptual work following the journey of Richard (Dick) Herman, who after falling asleep at his desk at a fictional social media company, Telepix, enters a dreamlike descent that begins on a beach and moves deeper into the ocean with each track. The record was self-produced with additional work from SHOLTO and Patrick Fitzroy (Katy J Pearson, Broadside Hacks, Sorry), and draws sonic inspiration from works such as Smile-era Beach Boys, Leonard Cohen’s Death of a Ladies’ Man, and Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest.
In discussing ‘Darkness and the Dawn’, the band describe it as:
“The Song is a call to be held by and reconnect with Mother Nature. It comes from a place of feeling lost and stuck between two places, a past darkness and the dawning of a new day. It opens our upcoming concept album which tells the story of Dick Herman, an employee of fictional social media corporation ‘Telepix’, who after dozing off at his desk job, wakes up on a 'perfect beach' where the spirit of nature appears to him, depicted in our video as a woman with the face of a golden sun, and prompts him to wade into the water, where with each track we plunge deeper into the sea, where memories, monsters, and realisations lurk.”
Sonically, the track begins in a loose and exploratory space where piano and strings feel almost improvised, gradually introducing rhythmic structure and a reflective vocal delivery. As it develops, it opens into a more radiant and theatrical chorus, driven by brass and a rising sense of momentum that shifts the mood toward something more luminous and expansive.
The group itself can number up to ten musicians at a time, drawing from jazz scenes in Glasgow and London, as well as classical and folk backgrounds. Contributors include Mashu Harada and Angus Macdonald on guitar and keys, Rachel Kitchlew on harp, Clementine Brown on violin, and a rhythm section featuring João Gratz and Rudy Mellen, with Alex Sharples on trumpet. Longstanding personal and family ties also run through the project, with multiple Macdonald siblings regularly appearing across vocals, guitar, and spoken word.
With ‘Darkness and the Dawn’, This Is The Deep continue to refine their hybrid of music, theatre, and visual art, positioning the release as both a standalone single and the opening chapter of a much larger conceptual work.
Watch below:
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