Limerick-based visual and performance artist Day Magee was inspired by the isolation of lockdown to realise songs they had written almost six years before – near fully formed artefacts of relationships torn apart by emotional and geographical distance, assuming the role of “the other woman”, and the nascency of navigating their gender identity as a genderqueer person.

Transcribing their musical ideas from memory with musician and producer Darragh Purcell of ethereal folk band Scoth, the result was their upcoming EP Cure, coming to streaming services in December, with ‘Oakdene Avenue’, and its huge, Bladerunneresque synth-laden chorus serving as the lead single and a dark anthem for our first Hallowe’en under COVID-19.

Day tells us the inspiration behind the haunting visuals:

“The video is inspired by reclaiming the horror film trope of “a man in a dress” being unhinged and dangerous, as well as the internal horror of ‘assigned male at birth’ (AMAB) people presenting femininely in a patriarchal society. It is aesthetically inspired by The Blair Witch Project and Nosferatu.”

Day Magee is a long time favourite of team GCN having previously appeared on the cover of our Pride 2019 issue. Speaking about the pieces of work they create Day said:

“I deal in visual art, but chiefly in the performative. My work historically explores the developmental role of shame-based trauma in the relationships of the queer sick body, operating via stylised rituals in the form of performance-centred multimedia installations. These hinge upon the process of transubstantiation, the artist interacting with totemic media in space in ritualistic format, charged by the witness of the audience.

“Much of my recent work is inspired by queer theorists such as Leo Bersani, Tim Dean and David M Halperin, and how self-destruction characterises part of the journey of the queer male. I’ve been actively practising in the performance art scene in Dublin for years semi-regularly through bodies such as Livestock and Dublin Live Art Festival. I have just finished my second year pursuing a BA in Sculpture And Combined Media at Limerick School of Art and Design, where I have also started a live art collective with my friends called the Evil Collective.”

‘Oakdene Avenue’ will be available on streaming platforms tomorrow, but you can get an exclusive first listen and look at the video below.