VIDEO PREMIERE: General Mack's Grapeshot - 'Carnival Of Stars'

Fresh from the release of his debut single, Grenades & Stomach Flu, back in August, Naarm multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer General Mack’s Grapeshot has unveiled the video for his latest single, Carnival Of Stars, ahead of its official release tomorrow.

The slow-burning piece of pop-influenced indie rock comes paired with a black-and-white clip which utilises practical effects to achieve its grander goal, and feels like a throwback to a time when video clips were complementary to the music, rather than audience-growing afterthoughts.

Directed by Laura May Grogan, the video utilised mirrored reflects and distortions to utilise obscuring techniques in order to play with the concept of what is real in a constructed reality where nothing really is.

As General Mack’s Grapeshot explains, it’s a concept which leans into the deeper influence of the song itself.

“Carnival Of Stars explores themes of escapism and anti-realism, teasing reality with skewed absurdist reflections,” he explains. “I wanted the delivery skip along until transporting the listener to awondrous, dreamy ‘carnival’ in the extended finish.”

“We had three main quotes from novelist Alan Garner’s Treacle Walker in mind with every decision for the video clip,” explains Grogan: “‘What is out is in. What is in is out’, ‘I can’t tell you what is real, and what isn’t’, and ‘For at the very moment you have now. It flees. It is gone. It is, on the instant, then’.”

The nascent track is the opener to General Mack’s Grapeshot’s debut album, Revel, Revel, which will arrive on February 27th, 2025. For those who can't wait that long, however, the single will be getting a special live launch at the Brunswick Artists’ Bar on Saturday, November 16th.

General Mack’s Grapeshot is the musical moniker of Mitchy McIvor, a talented musician who has played in numerous bands in Melbourne and LA, including Cannon and Damndogs.

With this new project forming a means for McIvor to realise his long-term intention of producing his own music, he takes influence from novels, short stories and poetry, drawing on dominant production techniques inspired by the works of Beck, The Kills, St Vincent, Danger Mouse, Serge Gainsbourg, and The War On Drugs.

General Mack’s Grapeshot’s Carnival Of Stars is released on Wednesday, October 30th, while Revel, Revel will arrive on February 27th, 2025.