Moaning - Don't Go

What this video is

Released November 29, 2017, 'Don't Go' served as the debut single for Los Angeles trio Moaning upon their signing to Sub Pop Records. The band — Sean Solomon, Pascal Stevenson, and Andrew MacKelvie — emerged from L.A.'s DIY institutions including The Smell and Pehrspace. The video's black-and-white, chaotic social documentary aesthetic aligns with a broader 2010s underground ethos that prized authenticity and…

Why it matters

A landmark Sub Pop post-punk debut single, the video encapsulates the 2010s revival of abrasive, noise-informed indie rock with aesthetic roots in No Wave, shoegaze, and L.A. DIY punk. The zero-saturation, high-contrast monochrome treatment and rapid-cut social vignettes establish a visual grammar…

The director

Michael Schmelling is an American photographer, director, and author based in Chicago. He is known for Grammy Award-winning publication The Wilco Book (2004), the photo book Atlanta: Hip Hop & The South (Chronicle, 2010), and a 2013 Museum of Contemporary…