“Katy’s Wart” is already such a fully realized piece in its full short film form, because the tension has room to build, the unease has time to settle in, and the shift into animation feels earned when it finally arrives. The shorter cut does not need to compete with that. It simply brings the animated section closer, and that section has more than enough weight, detail, and imagination to hold attention on its own. Once the focus narrows there, the animation has a lot to offer by itself, not as a replacement for the larger piece, but as a part of it that is rich enough to be looked at more closely.
The best part of the animation is how thoroughly it strips the suited man of his control. He is no longer framed as polished, composed, or socially protected. The second he is dropped into that purple landscape, with those open woods and unreal skies, he is made small. The figures around him do not feel like random monsters thrown in for shock. They feel coordinated, goddess-like, and exact, circling him with a kind of ritual confidence that makes the whole sequence feel less like chaos and more like judgment. Even the details carry that same sharpness. The use of the hanger, something domestic and familiar, turned into a weapon, is especially good because it takes an ordinary object and gives it menace without losing its strange humor. One of the strongest images in the whole piece is the singer overhead, suspended in the sky in traditional women’s clothing, watching and singing while the animated version of the man is handled below. It gives the sequence another layer of tension, because it makes the performance feel both inside the punishment and above it.
What keeps the animation from becoming one note is that it never stays with brute violence alone. It keeps shifting between cruelty, mockery, and something almost playful, which makes it much more unsettling and much more memorable. The man is not only attacked, he is humiliated, dressed up, healed, displayed, then pulled back into danger again. The crown is such a good touch because it looks like a reward for a second, but really it reads as ridicule, a fake elevation before more degradation. The dancing around him carries that same feeling, halfway between celebration and sacrifice, which makes the whole thing feel gleeful in a very pointed way. Then the final cosmic turn pushes it even further. The teddy bear constellation is exactly the kind of image that fits this song, because it takes something soft, childlike, and comforting, then turns it into the last thing he should have trusted. That reversal lands hard. It is funny for a moment, then vicious, and the fact that the video can hold both of those tones at once is part of what makes it so good.
The song underneath all of this gives the animation its spine. The track has that same clipped, formal pressure to it, with the vocal sounding composed while everything around it feels heavier and more punishing. That contrast fits the video perfectly. The music never needs to oversell what is happening on screen, because it already carries the same mix of control and menace. It gives the visuals structure, and the visuals give the song a body vivid enough to match its bite.
What lingers most in the shorter cut is how confidently it commits to its own imagery. It does not soften the ugliness, and it does not flatten the joke either. It keeps both. The result is grotesque, funny, punishing, and weirdly beautiful in places, all at once. More than anything, it feels imagined all the way through, and that is what gives the piece so much force.
ECCE SHNAK TOUR DATES WITH EMF
JUN 02 Manchester, UK – Gorilla
JUN 03 Worthing, UK – The Factory Live
JUN 04 Portsmouth, UK – Kola
JUN 05 Southend, UK – Chinnerys
JUN 06 London, UK – The Garage
JUN 07 Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
MAY 07 Philadelphia, PA, USA – Nikki Lopez
MAY 08 Buffalo, NY, USA – Town Ballroom
MAY 09 Toronto, ON, Canada – Dance Cave
MAY 10 Montreal, QC, Canada – Bar Le Ritz
MAY 11 Boston, MA, USA – City Winery
MAY 13 New York, NY, USA – Sony Hall
MAY 14 Millersville, PA, USA – Phantom Power
MAY 15 Baltimore, MD, USA – Metro Gallery
MAY 16 Hamden, CT, USA – Space Ballroom
‘Katy’s Wart [Animated Music Feelm Version]’ video:
Bandcamp https://ecceshnak.bandcamp.com/track/katys-wart
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