The editorial staff brings you a selection of clips that made music news. For this June: Ão, slow dive, Anoni and Al JohnsonVonfelt, Gaétan Nonchalant, Yocto, Unschooling, Devendra Banhart, Bolides, and Kevin Heartbeats.
Ão – “meninas” Directed by Michelle Venemans
At the crossroads between Portugal and Belgium, the group finds Ão. Between dreary pop, ambient music, and rhythm guitar riffs, singer Brenda Coregn tells us, in a crystalline voice, the power a sorority has to offer.
The clip accompanying the title “Meninas” was filmed on the beaches along the Tagus River around Lisbon. Highly contemplative, we oscillate between land and sea whose borders remain so fragile, almost jumbled. “Meninas” is the last single before the album Oh Mar, scheduled for October. Let yourself be carried away on this iodine-infused journey that will surely leave you feeling the sand under your feet.
Eva Duke
Slowdive – “Kisses” Directed by Noel Ball
It’s a big comeback for the ’90s English shoegaze group with the hit single “Kisses” and To Our Greatest Happiness. It’s been 6 years since Slowdive released a title, after they released an LP in 2017. “Kisses” takes us to a heavenly and melancholy world.
The clip is made even more poetic, as it takes us on a nighttime stroll seen by different characters. Director Noel Ball creates an intimate and sensitive atmosphere around the couple and their entourage, accompanied by the angelic voice of Rachel Joswell and Neil Halstead. These first appetizers are enough to keep us bingeing until the album’s September 1st release It’s all alive.
Eva Duke
ANOHNI and the Johnsons – “Silver Of Ice” Directed by ANOHNI
It’s been a long time since Anthony Hegarty transitioned transgender in 2015, becoming ANOHNI. A new personal identity but also musical as it changed its new features, ignoring the classic instruments of electronic sounds, which was proven from the first album Despair (2016), and subsequent singles.
Heralding a second album under that identity, its new title “Silver Of Ice” seems to cast a glimpse into the prospect of a return to grace and chiaroscuro. Like his clip, where the superimposition displayed on the platinum-blonde-haired artist’s face seems to reveal doubts. ANOHNI & The Johnsons back? Reply on July 7th with the album My back was a bridge you could cross.
Lacoste clouds
vonfelt – “the sun” Directed by David Coolio
After hypnotizing us with his first single “Je ne sais quoi,” Vonfelt confirmed his rise within the French music scene with the airy “Soleil.” Impala-like drums and guitars punctuate his Gainsbury’s voice speaking to us of the sun, here a metaphor for the screens that draw in us as well as the time that surrounds us.
In a sci-fi movie clip from the 1980s, we see Arthur, wearing starry glasses, so absorbed in his VHS TV that he wakes up in a fantasy that looked weakly at him. Simply asleep, the artist dreams of the Milky Way, the dusty stars and the blazing sun, relaxed by his introspective and lunar music.
Thomas Sollett
GAÉTAN NONCHALANT – “Northern Shores” Directed by Michael Blades
The Norman boy Gaetan Nonchal delivers his ode to the shores of the North in a rocky voice in his seventies. “Plages du Nord”, the first electric snippet from Gaétan’s debut album due out in September, tells of his summers and his trips to the North Sea. Far from the hot water and grit of the Mediterranean, the singer, guitarist and musicians sail with guitar riffs and retro synthesizer notes through 70’s and 90’s influences.
The clip takes us to the beaches of Normandy and nicely equalizes the, quite literally, good times we’re having there. Mixed and mastered by Jake Viator (Mild High Club, Caroll Kirby, Connan Mockasin), High Honoree at Stones Throw Records, will this debut effort open the doors to the temple of new indie rock groups in vogue for French music? Respond on September 29th.
Thomas Sollett
YOCTO – “Orbital Alcatraz” Directed by Philippe Beausejour
After several captivating and intriguing singles, Montreal’s YOCTO gives us a final taste of new wave for their debut album. Supernova Zepta scheduled for August 25. In a video game-like cut, “Orbital Alcatraz” reveals a guitar and orchestra with instrumental beats arranged by vocals with ping pong beats.
This exact unit of measure (yocto) has 4 members brought together through mutual groups and friends like IDALG or Chocolat. The composition is immersed in the new wave and underground rock music of the 70’s and 80’s to extract a unique and original sound. Like the soundtrack to a sci-fi movie, the quartet invites us on a journey through this interstellar sonic odyssey.
Thomas Sollett
School dropouts – ‘A whole new storm’ Directed by Clothilde Evid
Sometimes you don’t have to go far to hear good garage rock. Coming straight from Rouen, Unschooling delivers this psychedelic track with delicious “Brand New Storm” guitars. The deliciously twisted clip presents the cliched day of a ghost and leaves her despite the absence of her ghostly other half. Through this video, the group seeks to push us to go towards the unknown, to overcome our fears that are sometimes very present in a relationship.
Unschooling wants to revive Post punk with lofi and other random, chaotic but always subtle sounds laced with shy pop notes. It’s with the first album, New World Artifacts Due in October, the quintet will impose itself on the French indie rock scene.
Thomas Sollett
Devendra Banhart – “Twins” Directed by Matt Muir
In a cool, soulful post-punk style, Venezuelan-American musician Devendra Banhart delivers the first extract from his eleventh studio album. Aviation wig It is due in September. “Twins” with its Japanese musical overtones and the singer’s loud voice takes us, through this clip, into a semi-absurd and timeless world where strangers share their pain, excluding them through a bizarre cartoon show by Devendra himself.
The piece plunges us into a new world for the artist who is exploring synthesizers due to his collaboration with Australian musician Kate Lubon. This crazy connection between these two worlds created a deep excitement to discover more.
Thomas Sollett
Bolides & Kevin Heartbeats – “Bitter Summer” Directed by Coraline Benetti
We know that summer is often a sign of new romances or romantic getaways. Here, Bolides and Kevin Heartbeats team up to take on the bleakness of being alone in the face of summer. A funky little coconut, a pop beat with mechanical heartbeat notes, a nostalgic and somber melody, that’s what this new friendship with Etty Amer conveys to us.
To accompany this regret of being alone when the sun comes up, Friends gave us a clip directed by Coraline Benetti, in a Gondry style that goes perfectly with this beautiful title and two short 19 minutes. An ode to friendship in the face of sadness.
Thomas Sollett
