Exclusive Video Premiere: ‘All Your Words Are Gone,’ Avid Dancer

ABOVE: AVID DANCER. PHOTO COURTESY OF CARA ROBBINS.

Avid Dancer—the stage name for Los Angeles-based musician Jacob Dillian Summers—caught our attention last year with the release of his first EP, I Want To See You Dance. You might never guess it based on his reinvented ’60s pop vibe, but Summers made his first foray into music while in the military. Directly after 9/11, Summers joined the Marines and spent four years in the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps stationed in Washington D.C. He drummed and competed in over 200 shows every year throughout the U.S. and abroad, and once took home the world championship while playing the snare drum. Now, he has left behind the uniform in favor of a different aesthetic: the contemporary music scene. Later this month, Summers will play at FLOODfest during SXSW alongside the likes of Spoon and The Ting Tings, and will continue to tour around the U.S. through April.

In this exclusive video premiere for “All Your Words Are Gone,” a track from Avid Dancer’s forthcoming LP, 1st Bath, patriotic references appear in unexpected ways. Marine medals and American flags play into in a mirage of bubblegum pinks, buttercup yellows, and baby blues. Other elements, such as a praying doll, reference the religious Christian home in which he was raised. It’s a video brimming with personal experiences that are muddled together and then coated with psych-pop. The music—characterized by xylophones, lofty vocals, and simple strumming—is as laid back as the lyrics: “Throw away all things not worth needing / Open your eyes and start believing.”

1ST BATH WILL BE RELEASED APRIL 14 VIA GRAND JURY. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT AVID DANCER’S WEBSITE.