Masking: Queer Aesthetics and Production Tricks in Orville Peck's "Hope to Die" (2019)

Based on a critical analysis of Orville Peck's music video “Hope to Die” (2019), we explore the correlations between sound production, visual imagery, and gendered subjectivities. Peck, who identifies as gay, signals a breakthrough in country music, as much for his masked looks as his music. Our intention is to unravel the audiovisual details of production in order to disclose Peck's subjectivity. We investigate the aesthetic effects of “Hope to Die” in terms of production, audio engineering, and compositional design, while our hermeneutic approach seeks to uncover the congruences between technology, performativity, subjectivity, and agency. In the main, we argue that the inner workings of the track and video harness an Americana stylistic aesthetic that challenges heteronormative tendencies within mainstream country music through a process of resignification.