THE TONG: A Journey Into a Criminal Past

A journey through fear, retaliation and a re-imagined criminal past.

An Original Instrumental Work by Marc Soucy

The Tong is built around the idea of traveling backward in time—into an imagined world of organized crime, fear and retaliation in 1991.

The inspiration came partly from memories of the very real fear surrounding organized crime in Boston at the time, and from a notorious episode of gang violence that shocked the area. But the video isn't intended as a reconstruction of an actual event. It creates its own fictional narrative around that atmosphere.

The journey into the past begins through one of the most unusual combinations of music and image I've created. Percolating synthesizer arpeggios are accompanied by a synchronized waveform overlay, creating an otherworldly sensation of leaving ordinary reality behind.

Once there, the music and video unfold in two parts.

Orchestral strings and sound effects punctuate the danger, while a wordless female voice sings an ominous melody written quite deliberately to convey fear and terror.

The first part presents an imagined botched hit. The intended victim survives—but the opposing gang is more organized, more professional and far more lethal. Retaliation is coming.

Then everything pauses.

A panoramic view of Boston re-establishes the city while creating an illusory passage of time. Revenge cannot happen instantly. The implications have to sink in. Decisions are made and plans come together.

When the story resumes, we encounter a hired hit man smoking a cigarette before burning his instructions. The narrative then moves toward its violent conclusion.

Eventually, everything becomes quiet again. We find ourselves looking at a Chinatown street as the Asian-influenced instrumentation gradually fades.

But there's a small detail in that final image that's easy to overlook.

Look at the date stamp. It reads 1/12/1991.

The grain and video artifacts are meant to suggest footage from a video camera of the era. We haven't returned to the present. The journey backward in time is complete.

For me, that final image carries relief, unease, and lament at the same time. The violence has passed and the street is quiet again. Yet even a beautiful street can feel different when we know—or imagine—what may have happened there.

The Tong
An Original Instrumental Work by Marc Soucy

Beyond The Expected.