Empire of the Sun have released the video for the lead single “High and Low” from their new album Two Vines and let’s get this out there first: There’s a lot going on.
There are trees. There are people walking among the trees. The leaves are moving. All of this feels fairly normal. Then the Australian duo shows up and it all gets a little weird from then on. Rocks are floating in air and dude, an eye opens up from the grass. Even the eye looks as if it can’t believe what it’s seeing.
Nature taking over and grabbing the reigns from cities falling apart was an initial theme proposed by the group, made up of Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore, both of whom directed the trippy and ambitious video, which relies heavily on CGI tricks and magic. Littlemore spoke with Rolling Stone about the inspiration behind the “High and Low” video:
“There was an image we talked about very early on with this record, before we wrote the title track, ‘Two Vines,’ and that was this image of a modern city overtaken by jungle, almost like mother nature taking back the planet,” “All the buildings will turn back to sand. All it will be is nature again. We wanted to make something that reflected the beauty of that, and the wisdom that plants can give us about living harmoniously on this beautiful planet.”
I’d say the succeeded. The whimsical video really marries well with the tone of the song, creating a celebratory atmosphere that works to increase the level of enjoyment of both.
Two Vines, the eclectic duo’s third album, is set to be released on Oct. 28.
