Rosetta West’s Dora Lee (Gravity) video unfolds like a delirious vision—equal parts gritty blues-rock and cinematic hallucination. Filmed at Chicago’s Gravity Studios, the band’s fierce live presence is captured with visceral intensity, while the surreal, layered imagery pulls the viewer into something stranger, more symbolic. The track churns with stormy momentum, laying down the perfect soundtrack for a video that’s theatrical and otherworldly. From the first disorienting frame, it’s clear this is a descent into something raw and uncontained.
At the heart of the visual narrative is a cryptic figure: a tank commander locked in a power struggle that feels more spiritual than political. His unravelling is catalysed by a procession of mythic feminine archetypes, Kali, Ishtar, and Hecate, who emerge not as background art, but as disruptive forces. Their movements are ritualistic, their presence confrontational. They don’t just haunt the frame, but dominate it. These goddesses of chaos and transformation don’t offer salvation so much as confrontation, and the commander is left visibly shaken, caught in a metaphysical reckoning beyond his control.
The music hits like a storm surge. Joseph Demagore’s guitar snarls and sears, his vocal delivery crackling with wounded intensity. There’s an edge to every phrase he sings, a sense of unresolved conflict in every bend of the strings. Backed by Herf Guderian’s heavy-handed bass and Mike Weaver’s unrelenting drums, the band builds a sonic wall that’s more invocation than composition. This is blues-rock stripped of pretension—loud, ragged, and seething with intent. The band isn’t concerned with finesse; they’re channelling something primal, and it roars through every second.
What elevates the video is its refusal to spell itself out. Rather than spoon-feed viewers a linear plot, Rosetta West chooses suggestion over statement. War machines crumble under metaphysical weight, symbols rise from shadows, and feminine power takes centre stage with unnerving calm. The line between aggression and awe blurs completely. There’s something almost Lynchian in its resistance to coherence—an insistence that meaning must be earned, not given. In an era where most music videos serve as commercials, this one feels like an incantation.
With “Dora Lee (Gravity),” Rosetta West proves they’ve lost none of their defiant spirit. The video complements the song and expands it, revealing layers of mythic tension and existential dread. As the band prepares to unleash the Gravity Sessions, this release is a calling card and a warning: the fire still burns, the edge is still sharp. Rosetta West remains a band that confronts rather than comforts, and this time, they’ve summoned something downright transcendent.
For more information, follow Rosetta West:
Spotify – Bandcamp – YouTube
