i_o gives menacing performance in 'Ghost In The Machine' music video – EDM All Day

mau5trap‘s resident phantom menace goes by the name of i_o. Cigarette perpetually perched between his lips (hands normally glued to the decks), he spends his nights splaying techno through the infamous label’s subterranean corridors. If you listen closely, you can hear the mounting, maniacal thump of an kick drum drawing nearer.

The “Not Techno” producer recently took a short break from thumbing his nose at genre purists from his low-light DJ dungeon to star in the music video for an original cut from his new EP. The “Ghost In The Machine” visual arrives with deadmau5 and mau5trap content director, Leah Sems in both the editor and director’s chairs.

In the video, i_o’s preternatural performance centers around seducing his co-star, a young woman whom i_o soon assumes spiritual control over, seen once her irises become overrun with an onyx darkness. Her fate unholy fate is sealed through a dark baptism of sorts, with various religious icons flooding the mise en scène. In one shot, the woman looks into a mirror, as i_o’s stolid reflection stares back at her, suggesting his presence in the video is more an idealized one than a physical one. The “Ghost In The Machine” clip is a seamless visual complement to i_o’s foreboding, unearthly sound design, highly realized in his new mau5trap EP, House of God, of which the remaining track titles speak volumes (“Possession,” “Come With Me,” and “House Of God.”).