Black Country, New Road are releasing their second album Ants From Up There in a month’s time, and rather than treat us to another single from it, they’ve instead delivered an amazing video for the most recent one, “Concorde”.
As the video’s director Maxim Kelly explains, it is quite literally about an ant from “up there”. He says:
“On the surface, the concept was straightforward, a walking video: An Ant from “up there”, sings Concorde.
“But, for a band who namecheck everyone from Scott Walker to Kanye West, and the pronounced mix of genres in their music, it felt right to take an analogous approach with the visuals. Throw as many references together as possible and see if we, too, could get it all to hold together as a piece.
“We took the 6 minute+ runtime as an asset. It gave us the time needed to weave as much as possible into the film. A walking video in parts, but also with a narrative running through. We combined miniatures with VFX, and flanked the film with Archival footage.
“The band were so supportive and amazing. They gave us the encouragement to just go off on one! And being a massive fan of their music, it was a genuine pleasure to work with them on this film.”
As well as myriad easter eggs, keep your eyes peeled for cameos from each of the members of the band. Although we haven’t yet spotted singer Isaac Wood – could he possibly be the Ant under all those prosthetics? We’ll have to get to the bottom of it.
Ants From Up There is out through Ninja Tune on February 4 – check out the various pre-order options HERE.
You can find Black Country, New Road on Bandcamp, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
