Here’s our Single of the Year, for the moment. It is also one of the most difficult videos to watch, ever.
Not unwatchable in the normal sense of the word, mind you – just extremely challenging on the eyes. See, the director had this crazy idea to keep running the camera on repeated bullet cam-type zooms towards the members of synth rock trio Bear in Heaven, kind of like a hyperkinetic blend of the videos for Beck’s “Devils Haircut,” which employed the off-center zoom, and Simple Minds’ “All the Things She Said,” where the band members repeated a certain movement while staying in sync with the audio, which must have involved dozens upon dozens of lip sync jobs put together. The key to watching this clip, we learned, is to keep blinking. Stop blinking while watching this clip, and you’re probably going to fall out of your chair. Those susceptible to siezures, just press play and close your eyes. It’s for your own good.
Why post such a polarizing and potentially life-threatening video, you ask? Because the song is AWESOME. The drums tell you something’s different from the very beginning, as the snare drops on the 1 and 3 beats rather than the standard 2 and 4. The keyboard tracks, meanwhile, should serve as an instructional manual on what keys should sound like (M83 and your yip dog synths, we’re looking in your direction). Gorgeous stuff. We can’t wait to hear the rest of the record. Happy Friday, everyone.
