It’s been over a year since Fleet Foxes released their third album, Crack-Up, but it’s a huge record, and in 2018, they’re not done with it yet. They’re currently wrapping up the tour in support of the album, they shared a stunning video for “If You Need To, Keep Time On Me,” and now they’ve shared an epic clip for three-part album opener “I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint Scar” that features a character who can’t escape a mysterious cube.
In a statement about the film, director Sean Pecknold says the video is about repetition and contrast:
“For me, the song encapsulated the themes and feelings of the whole record like an overture; the darkness/lightness, the fast/slow, the tension between two competing voices and the unpredictable dynamic shifts of tempo and voice. I wanted to create a striking visual allegory that felt both intimate and lonely, grand and triumphant.
With the film I wanted to visualize the struggle within the song through the story of a fictional character trying to escape from his house and reach an ever elusive mythical place only to be brought back to the start by the pull of a mysterious red cube. At the start of the film it’s as if we have happened upon a man tired from a repetitive struggle that has been going on for weeks, months, even years. There becomes a frustrating sense of repetition as he attempts to reach these metaphorical end goals and fails time after time. It’s something I can relate to, and hopefully others can too.”
Watch the video for “I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint Scar” above, and revisit our review of Crack-Up here.
Crack-Up is out now via Nonesuch. Get it here.
