One of America’s favorite pastimes of the twenty-first century so far has been watching YouTube videos of troops returning from overseas to surprise their teary-eyed families and friends. I never really got this phenomenon until quarantine, when the thought of physically reuniting with loved ones became overwhelming to the point that watching videos of strangers doing just that got me unexpectedly teary-eyed.
One such video comes from Mexico City post-rockers El Shirota, whose video for their brand new track “A Donde Voy” features the fourpiece uniting in the empty streets of their city. Paired with the group’s feedback-heavy, shoegaze-y sound, the video feel particularly liberating in a time of social isolation. “It’s an emotional but noisy song about dealing with accepting yourself as you are right now and the new emotions going through your life,” shares vocalist/guitarist Ignacio Gomez.
Gomez goes on to explain how this theme connects with the song’s video, the plot of which is about “getting outside of the trip and waking up from a more angular and exaggerated cowboy punk dream full of noise to a more sober portrait, yet relieving reality where friends are what gives you a sensation of being home, even during the very weird and difficult times occurring as we speak. Facing more than one side of musical expression and embracing the interest in different styles of music that are all around the track list of Tiempos Raros, like a hint of what’s inside the rest of these songs throughout the whole album.”
Tiempos Raros drops June 12 via Devil in the Woods—you can pre-order it here.
