“What appealed to me about acting and theater wasn’t exclusive to acting and theater,” said Juliet Gordon in a recent interview. “It’s in music, and definitely in litigation, too.”
Gordon, leader of San Francisco-based duo The Classical, revels in dramatic poses and gestures. To her, courtroom brinkmanship is Brechtian. Kanye West, too. And corporate henchmen—crossing scythes and inserting fatal clauses into binding contracts—inspired the music video for “Shovel & Bevel”.
Pulled from Diptych, The Classical’s recent album, “Shovel & Bevel” depicts Gordon at the helm of a hip corporation, mercilessly discarding subordinates after some sort of unconscionable branding gaffe. She called it, “Our corporate revenge music video.”
Formed by Gordon and drummer Britt Ciampa in 2012 and named after a song by The Fall, The Classical self-released Diptych in December of last year. An arresting album that evokes the sort of artists who’re prone to being called peerless—such as Scott Walker, Carla Bozulich, and Circuits Des Yeux—Diptych was one of the Bay Area’s finest full-lengths of 2014.
On it, Gordon compellingly inhabits an array of personas: deviant, spy, sycophant, tourist, and killer. The album’s first music video features her in the role of tyrant.
