While Peter Bjorn and John have been going strong for over two decades now, the band’s Björn Yttling hasn’t shared new music with his project Smile—alongside Joakim “Jocke” Åhlund, from Caesars and the lesser-known dance-pop offshoot Teddybears—since their one-off debut in 2012. What started as a studio jam grew into something of a cult hit among listeners of Swedish pop juggernauts like Lykke Li and Miike Snow over time, with A Flash in the Night proving to be the reward at the end of a wormhole opened up by the wild crossover success of “Jerk It Out.”
Over eight years later, Yttling and Åhlund teased a full follow-up LP earlier this year, preceding the event with a driving, kraut-ish single “Kylie.” We now know that the album is called Phantom Island, and to expect it some time this summer—and as of today, we have a psychedelic visual to pair with the sounds, featuring black-and-white footage of the band flashing among kaleidoscopic imagery. “I filmed the guys in Joakim’s studio in a little old cabin in Stockholm,” shares director Jenny Källman. “And it was a little tricky because Joakim wanted only to be filmed from his ‘good side’ all the time, which turned out to be complicated because I use a lot of mirrors and reflections in front of the camera lens.”
Watch the clip below.
