Shmu Gets Voyeuristic

There’s a strange woman with a video camera, secretly filming people in their moments of vanity and virulence – posing for selfies, flexing shirtless in the mirror, pacing in anger, smashing rocks on concrete – then interpreting those scenes into dance.

Who is this woman? What does it all mean? Why is someone urinating out of a two-story window?

“I have no idea,” admitted Austin’s Sam “Shmu” Chown, when confronted. “I had nothing to do with the concept of this video and I don’t know who any of the people in it are.”

The video clip for Shmu’s “Sheila,” an anthemic single equally inspired by Eighties glam metal and Canadian power pop heroes Sloan, was directed by Iowa oddball Dom Rabalais. Chown says he’s fascinated with Rabalais primarily because he hails from Fairfield, a small town at the epicenter of the Transcendental Meditation movement, which Chown likens to a non-evil hippie version of Scientology. He sent Rabalais the song with one artistic directive: “Do whatever you want.”

The result appears to be a commentary on “selfie” culture, addressed through voyeurism and abstract behavior.

“The first time I met Miley Cyrus, she was DJing using her phone, while using it to film people who were filming her with their phones – then later she watched the footage,” recalls Chown. “I think that’s a good metaphor for what this video means.”

The drummer/vocalist, who’s also co-owner of GTZ Records and half of experimental duo Zorch, has more irons in the fire than Kaiser Steel: an upcoming Shmu EP, a few potential Zorch albums (including their Thorch collaboration with Thor Harris and a session they did with Poliça’s Ryan Olson), and a new project with Chris King of This Will Destroy You. On Saturday, Shmu zones in at Cheer Up Charlies, playing in both his namesake trio (11:15pm) and electronic sample groovers Botany (9:15pm) on a tantalizing lineup that also includes Knifight, Blxpltn, Daniel Francis Doyle, and Foot Patrol.

Here’s “Sheila”: