You may remember the newly minted Portlander and singer-songwriter Annalee Fery from her time fronting the Los Angeles bands Howls and Monsters Are Waiting. Now, after moving to Portland in search of musical reinvention, she’s emerged with the indie-rock inspired project King Lee, sharing the video for her new single, “Fade to Red.”
During her time in L.A., Fery worked as a key makeup artist and composer for the 2016 web series Grip and Electric. It proved to be a pivotal project for her, during which she worked with several key collaborators for King Lee, including director Kerry Harris, who plays guitar on the single; backing vocalist Andrew Burlinson, best known for Parks and Recreation, Silicon Valley and Brooklyn 99; as well as Meredith Bishop, who children of the 90s will remember from The Secret World of Alex Mack. Bishop and Fery were already longtime friends and creative confidants, so working together to finalize the lyrics to "Fade to Red" came naturally.
“Fade to Red” explores themes of the “growing epidemic of depression” that Fery saw blooming within herself, as well as many friends and family members. For this reason, Fery notes it felt important to capture a sense of darkness akin to a “horror film” within the video.
This time, she turned to longtime friend and producer Zach Putnam, who worked on visual effects on tour for Monsters Are Waiting. Putnam introduced Fery to Viktoria Haiboniuk, an award-winning Ukrainian filmmaker living in Portland, who directed the video.
Of the collaboration, Haiboniuk reflects, “you can hear [Fery’s] soul in her music, so visually translating its beauty was a special experience for me.”
Shot on a farm in rural Oregon where Fery resides, the music video is a cinematic and eerie evocation of depression’s relentless pursuit within Oregon’s dark, pastoral landscape.
