Hercules and Love Affair’s New Video: High Priestess!
By
July 12, 2011
Hercules and Love Affair’s newest single, “Painted Eyes,” sneaks up on you—for the first minute or so, it’s all about the operatic, slightly melancholy vocals; then the track bursts open with a disco-inflected synth and before you know it, you’re dancing. (Those vocals, by the way, are the work of Aerea Negrot, who’s part of Hercules’ new lineup.) It’s the first American single for their second album, Blue Songs, which was released in January in Europe and will drop here in a two-disc special edition on August 16.
The video for the song functions in much the same way: at first, the models featured in it move in slow motion across dark backgrounds, and the most action we see is a woman whipping her hair in slow-mo. But then the funky drums kick in, and we’re treated to a world of color: all the model has to do is raise her arms, and she reveals lush psychedelic landscapes: a river, a field of conifers, a double waterfall repeating ad infinitum. The video cuts back and forth between the slow-motion hair model (hair in slow motion is so pretty!—although we must admit we think this Pedigree dog-food commercial uses the technique to even greater effect), the pretty priestess, and a kaleidoscopic view of a rotating model that plays with shadow and color in a way that perfectly mirrors the song’s crisp violin work. The overall effect is strange, beautiful, and a little bit alien—a pretty sure indication that we’ll like the new album as much as we liked the last one.
BLUE SONGS IS OUT AUGUST 16 (MOSHI MOSHI). HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR WILL CONTINUE TO TOUR THROUGH EARLY SEPTEMBER, INCLUDING A SHOW AT JONES BEACH IN NEW YORK ON AUGUST 21. FOR MORE ON THE BAND, VISIT THEIR WEBSITE.
