Squarepusher - Detroit People Mover

What this video is

Released on April 16, 2020, during the first wave of COVID-19 global lockdowns, 'Detroit People Mover' arrived as an eerily prescient document of urban emptiness. Filmed in March 2020 after Detroit had been shut down, the video captures the city's automated transit loop running without passengers — a condition that mirrored the sudden suspension of public life across the world. Detroit itself carries enormous…

Why it matters

Represents a high-water mark of IDM-era conceptual music video production, extending the Warp Records tradition of pairing avant-garde electronic music with intellectually rigorous visual art. The video engages documentary filmmaking conventions within a music video format, directly in dialogue…

The director

Los Angeles-based Emmy-winning director of documentaries, short films, and music videos. A Detroit native, he graduated from the University of Chicago before returning to Detroit to produce independent documentaries. His work explores technology, economics,…