MWTV: Walt Disco, Villagers, Lucius, and Bonobo
A quartet of incredible music videos, from shimmering indie pop to queer punk flamboyance
Walt Disco: How Cool Are You?
To call the Glaswegian quintet Walt Disco an homage to the bands of the ’80s seems almost reductive. Still, this single and their outwardly punk-queer flamboyance is a refreshing, even comforting, throwback to the era.
“How Cool Are You” is a melodic treat, served with a Tim Curry sneer, and the accompanying video is both playful and deceptively intricate, as color and black and white intricately interact.
The band, poised on ice skates, is in full glam face paint, cavorting in a manner best described as aggressive camp. The band feels destined for sonic greatness with their forthcoming album Unlearning, dropping April 1. Pre-order at www.waltdisco.com.
Villagers: Circles In the Firing Line
It takes chutzpah to release a six-and-a-half-minute single, and even more chutzpah to build a hallucinatory, abstract video out of said single. But that’s exactly what Dublin-based Conor J. O’Brien — Villagers — has done.
The song came out back in September, part of the intoxicating album Fever Dream, released in August, and the video is a doozy, utilizing an array of animation techniques evoking everything from Monty Python to Peter Gabriel’s iconic “Sledgehammer.”
It’s a beautiful, infinitely watchable video for a beautiful, infinitely listenable song. Visit www.wearevillagers.com.
Lucius: Next to Normal
A glimmering, shimmering single with a, quite literally, glimmering, shimmering video to match, the first single from the forthcoming Lucius album has an earworm of a chorus that just won’t let go.
There’s a nod to ABBA in the way singer-songwriters Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe are portrayed in the video, often in multicolored silhouettes or elaborate, kaleidoscopic patterns. The multicolored, trippy affair only enhances the bright, ebullient vocals of Laessig and Wolfe.
Produced by Dave Cobb and Brandi Carlile, the album Second Nature drops on April 8, and the duo follow at the end of the month with a short U.S. tour that includes a stop at the 9:30 Club on May 9. More at www.ilovelucius.com.
Bonobo: Shadows (featuring Jordan Rakei)
A entrancing, trance-inducing single from Bonobo’s freshly dropped album Fragments, “Shadows” hooks you from the start with its mellow, dreamy electronica.
Bonobo — a.k.a. Brit Simon Green — says the song, on which he collaborated with Jordan Rakei, is meant to evoke an “old school, Detroity, Moodymann and Theo Parrish-inspired” vibe. The video, directed by BWTV, is akin to watching a geometric “whoosh,” a series of patterns and abstractions that interlock, comingle, and inevitably form a kind of continuous ethereal peace.
Bonobo will play Echostage on Feb. 28 as part of his current North American tour. Visit www.bonobomusic.com.
Got a suggestion for a video? Write us at MWTV@metroweekly.com.
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