Exclusive Video Premiere: ‘Could Be You,’ Allah-Las

ABOVE: ALLAH-LAS. PHOTO COURTESY OF LAURA-LYNN PETRICK.

Allah-Las is a bona fide Los Angeles rock band. Ever since the four-piece met while working at Amoeba Records on Sunset Boulevard in 2008, they’ve been creating down-to-earth tracks that sound as though they emerged from a sultry garage in Southern California. Their locale continues to inform their music. Here, we’re pleased to premiere the video for their latest single, “Could Be You,” off of their forthcoming LP Calico Review (due out September 9 via Mexican Summer). It’s a testament to their city, which when viewed through the lens of director Laura-Lynn Petrick appears at once as a recognizable, contemporary L.A. and as a dated, black-and-white dream, seen through rose-colored glasses.

“I met with Laura-Lynn Petrick, the director of the video, in a bar near my place to discuss concepts and ideas,” vocalist and guitarist Miles Michaud recalls. “The first thing she asked was what the song was about. The purpose of ‘Could Be You’ is to look at the concept of letting go and not resisting change just because it compels you to change yourself, which many people find difficult.”

After meeting Petrick and discussing the “rapid and palpable transformation” L.A. is undergoing, the city became the video’s subject, and the two spent a couple of days shooting in various neighborhoods. Often filmed out of the side of a moving vehicle, the City of Angels certainly plays its part; it’s an array of highways and palm trees, evoking a certain western romance, and it’s also its current self; alive and in flux. Despite the city’s transformations, and its downfalls, for Allah-Las the answer to the question in the following lyric is, of course, yes: “But if you had the chance to / Would you do it all again?”

ALLAH-LAS’ FORTHCOMING ALBUM, CALICO REVIEW, IS DUE OUT SEPTEMBER 9 VIA MEXICAN SUMMER. FOR MORE ON THE BAND, VISIT THEIR WEBSITE.