Night Club – “Poisonous” (video) (PopMatters Premiere)

Night Club’s newest EP, Love Casualty, is pretty damn goofy. The music goes beyond being ’80s indebted to being a near carbon copy of ’80s synth pop. The dark streak running throughout the music is as cartoonish as an antagonist in an ’80’s sex comedy. What makes this EP an earworm of a listen, however, is that it’s an absolute blast even in spite of those facts. The hooks on songs like “Give Yourself Up” are unassailable in their execution. The mood is unpretentious and fun.

These qualities are especially evident on “Poisonous”. Frontwoman Emily Kavanaugh’s vocals, one part Britney spears and two parts zombified menace, carry the chorus’ simple refrain (“The way you kiss me, baby / It’s poisonous”) to can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head heights. Night Club has just made a video for the song, which PopMatters is pleased to premiere here. Maximizing the cheesiness of the music that backs it, the video depicts Kavanaugh walking through the desert, makeup askew, with shots of her Night Club compadre Mark Brooks (of Metalocalypse fame) driving off into the sunset. The ambiguous ending adds a nice touch to the song’s serpentine hook.