Allison Ponthier Channels Mortality Anxieties in Surreal ‘Hollywood Forever Cemetery’ Video

Today, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Allison Ponthier releases her vulnerable yet vibrant new EP Shaking Hands with Elvis. Rich with smoothly brooding tracks like ‘Hollywood Forever Cemetery,’ the EP is a testament to her as a writer of intimate, otherworldly songs. The EP is accompanied by a video for ‘Hollywood Forever Cemetery,’ directed by Jocelyn & Dawn through Biscuit Filmworks, that channels anxieties about mortality in a surreal yet poignant way. 

Shaking Hands with Elvis finds Allison at ease, as she demonstrates her full self in her songs. With tough-as-nails tracks like the emotions-forward single 'Hardcore,' she digs deep, reaching into uncomfortable feelings. The darkly catchy “Hollywood Forever Cemetery” indulges a long-brewing obsession with the storied Los Angeles resting place. She uses her fixation to explore issues of life and death. “It’s also about how people think being famous will fix them - only others get more vicious and critical the less they see someone as a person,” she says. “I'm very drawn to finding the human in people who have been dehumanised." 

In the video, which was shot with a crew of locals in Mexico City, Allison is rescued from a night of mourning by an Elvis-poodle hybrid who ushers her into a brightly hued, subterranean nightclub full of glowing cocktails and dead celebrities. “Allison is a true artist," says the Spirit Award-nominated Jocelyn & Dawn. "It was an incredible experience to work together to explore the afterlife as something joyful and funny where your true self can emerge.” 

With the juxtaposition of glittery panoramic moodscapes and hard-hitting lyrics ruminating on death, celebrity, and the afterlife, 'Hollywood Forever Cemetery' is a standout on Allison’s Shaking Hands with Elvis EP, which also includes the rousing "Autopilot." It follows her 2021 debut EP Faking My Own Death, which features the stirring coming-out chronicle 'Cowboy.' "If Faking My Own Death was about coming into your own and entering a new phase of life as you come out, Shaking Hands with Elvis is a hopeful look at that new life,” says Allison.

Allison just wrapped up a tour with Bleachers, and this month will be playing LA Pride In the Park at Los Angeles State Historic Park alongside Christina Aguilera and Anitta before playing her first headlining shows - June 14th at Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right and June 16 at the actual Hollywood Forever Cemetery. With the songs from Shaking Hands with Elvis in her back pocket, there’s no doubt that these shows, and this era, will help her connect with even more listeners who are as openhearted as she is.