Polaris-nominated, multi-disciplinary artist Kimmortal is excited to release the official music video for ‘Strange Maze’ ft. Super Duty Tough Work – the video was filmed, edited, and directed by Steve Roste and produced by Junia-T. The track is featured on their acclaimed new EP, ‘Sunniest of Days,’ digitally out now and on limited edition vinyl via Odd Doll Records.
‘Strange Maze’ brings together Kimmortal and Super Duty Tough Work’s Brendan Grey over production from Toronto-based sonic architect Junia-T. The song ruminates on the intersections of new-age industry standards and creative practice —less artist, more influencer; less telling, more selling. It’s a deliberate and sharp meditation on attention economies, and the toll they take on an artist’s wellness, creative output, and agency.
On the track and its accompanying video, Kimmortal explains: “In order to talk about the song‘Strange Maze’ I had to write the skit before it: Trapped!!. The skit is comedic but it captures that sense of aggravation—realizing you’re an artist trapped in the maze of the music industry. It’s a complex system built on colonialism and capitalism, with paths and tunnels where it’s easy to get lost. I was thinking about how SDTW has always been deeply critical of the systems we operate in as artists, and I approached our collab with Gabriel Teodros’ words in my head: ‘If you follow all of my offerings, you probably gonna see that music’s not a commodity or product to me, behind bars we feel free, and that’s a contradiction in my industry.’ I started asking myself: how am I moving in a system I don’t believe in? I feel like my verse encompasses how I’m moving right now.”
Super Duty Tough work adds: “I just wrote about where music seems to be right now, as far as I can tell—where the focus is on selling everything about yourself but your music. Not only is that the antithesis of what we’re doing, but it’s also basically forced on artists if they want to ‘be in the game,’ so to speak.”