In the year 2020, the April 20 holiday simply known as 4/20 has evolved into a surreal blend of weed culture and relentless anxieties brought upon by political oppression, making for something of an upsetting high. I can’t imagine it’ll be long after blazing up today that the unavoidable reality of the pandemic will hit you, nor the recollection of the incompetence of our leaders that did little to prepare us for it.
This seems to be the idea behind The Curls’ video for their new single “Nu-Country”—over the course of the song’s slowly unraveling five-minutes, the politically minded lyrics devolve into an odd distortion, while computer-animated images of anatomical diagrams, giraffes flying airplanes, and Mitch McConnell floating in space somehow manage to get a little weirder.
“[Director Alex Jensen] really blew my mind with this one,” The Curls’ Mick Fansler shares. “It may seem random, but to me it makes perfect sense. There’s no way for me to explain all of the brilliantly funny, beautiful, and bizarre things in this video—all I can say is that Alex captured the soul of the song in a way I’m not sure even the song itself does.”
As for the song itself, Fansler notes that the apocalyptic message was a bit at odds with the euphoric process of recording the singles with friends in Chicago. “‘Nu-Country’ is the definitive campfire song of the terrifyingly near future,” he explains. “It was also some of the most fun I’ve ever had recording: We shacked up with friends Caleb Willitz and Rami Atassi at FAB studio. We invited friends in to improvise over the track. Maria Jacobson (Fran) came in to lay down flute and sing on it. She continually amazes me and she killed it. We also had renowned cellist Nora Barton (Planchette, Mucca Puzza) and my best man (literally) Chris Coleslaw (Tobacco City) play guitar on the track.”
Watch the video below, and make sure to purchase the single on Bandcamp—all proceeds will go to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
