Overshadowed by the Crystal Method in their heyday and largely relegated to soundtracks and commercials like so many other electronic artists, Death In Vegas’s story is not particularly unique on the surface. Flirting with the boundary between rock and electronica, Death In Vegas has never received much attention for their proficiency with either, so it’s easy to overlook the quirks that pop up throughout their career. They’ve hosted a night at the Barbican in London about surf movies, for example. Their third album, Scorpio Rising, takes its name from a little-seen short film by Kenneth Anger that mixed together fascinations with fascist imagery and leather fetishism—a slightly leftfield choice for an album name. And then there’s the small matter of the video for “Dirge,” one of the band’s more recognizable songs. Featuring the hypnotic vocals of Dot Allison, “Dirge” is six minutes of relentless build-up, and though its structure is extremely simple—essentially two chords and a single refrain repeated over and over—it is intensely menacing and affecting.

“Dirge” is not exactly what you’d call radio material; it’s far too long and sounds like the soundtrack to someone being stalked and murdered. And yet it was released as a single, with not one but two videos eventually accompanying it. The second video features a clipped version of the track playing over elegantly shot but slightly creepy scenes of ballroom dancing. But the first is more interesting; shot with a budget of £200 for a film festival, the original six-minute video features a slightly different cut of the album version. The visuals are simply a series of stark portraits of Americans killed by guns during the course of a single day.