Cass McCombs Shares Traumatizing Video for “Name Written in Water”

One sentence stands out in the press release I received for Cass McCombs’ horrifying new video for “Name Written in Water”: “In the context of modern capitalist hegemony, we’re all just pigs to the slaughter in a cosmic sense.” It’s a stark reality. Almost as stark as the reality of our cultural understanding of the treatment of animals. I don’t mean to stand on a pedestal, and I don’t believe I’m more moral than anyone else, but as a vegetarian for a decade and a pescatarian for the last several, I’ve come to see violence against animals in a different way than many American citizens. As such, this video was nearly impossible for me to watch. I firmly believe that our culturally systemic violence on animals correlates to our culturally systemic violence against other humans, both domestically and abroad. I hesitate to share such violence through a media outlet of which I possess control; however, I believe the questions this video raises should be confronted and carefully weighed. The video for “Name Written in Water” was directed by Jeffrey Peixoto; the song is culled from McCombs’ most recent double album Big Wheel and Others. Watch at your own risk below.