You may have heard about a nineties revival going on. And while Washington State’s Strange Wilds aren’t going to fool anyone into thinking they don’t own very well-worn copies of Bleach, there’s something invigorating about their particular take on what is now a very familiar sound. This is, simply put, powerful rock music done in a mode that began to lose its power twenty or so years ago.
The trio are releasing Subjective Concepts, their full-length debut, today on Sub Pop, and to celebrate, we have the premiere of their first music video, for album cut “Pronoia”—that’d be the belief that the entire world is out to help you. The world of the video, which was directed by Dave Hoekje, is, ah, not that kind of world. The band are drowned in images, with everything from the side of a barn to a vert ramp to a sheet placed at a distance in the woods being used as a projection surface. It’s disorienting and slightly nauseating—and made all the worse by a few clean, straightforward shots of viscously soiled undergarments. If this is what the world looks like when it’s trying to work to your benefit, you may want to begin interviewing other candidates. Although then again—it’s the world in which “Pronoia” has been brought to you.
Take a deep breath and check out the video below.
