This is just a video promo for the upcoming album by The Angelus, entitled On A Dark & Barren Land. And I shouldn’t say “just,” since it is extremely obvious that an incredible amount of work went into this brief clip, which clocks in at over two-and-a-half minutes. The piece takes the uncommon approach of  “combining several songs off of the new album” as opposed to just one–which was the original plan– says Angelus front-person, Emil Rapstine.

Shot over two days, the clip is “composed of thousands of still photos using a time-lapse dolly and a 24mm tilt-shift lens” according to the Vimeo page, and was directed by Dallas freelancer Jake Wilganowski.

The band has been working on the record “off and on for about two years,” says Rapstine. It will be their first release since 2004′s self-titled EP. With only a quick preview to go by, it doesn’t stray far from the dark yet melodic and chiming sounds for which the long-running local band is known.

Numerous setbacks have made the already daunting project of completing an entire full-length record that much more difficult. “Band mates started moving out of town,” says Rapstine. “So it took time to get them to fly back to do overdubs and [it] made listening/agreeing to mixes hard.”

And one more thing. Their somewhat well-known producer, Josh Pearson, was also a little busy. “Pearson produced most of it but had to leave for Europe before everything was complete…He did a lot of work before we even started recording and was there for everything really besides the vocals and mixing.” Ultimately, he says the record’s production will be credited to both Pearson and The Angelus.

As impressive as the clip is, I just have one concern: What is going on with so many of our local artists and their vision of the world around them as a gloomy rural landscape inundated with abusively gratuitous religious iconography? Don’t you guys all live in cities? All of this preacher imagery and watery baptism stuff makes Dallas seem more terrifying than it actually is. How about we see a clip with some of you just hanging at Cindy’s Deli or Half Price Books or any of the places I actually run into you? Here’s the clip:

The Angelus: On A Dark & Barren Land from Jake Wilganowski on Vimeo.