The Band Explains: New Wolves - 'Same Two Songs'
Indie outfit New Wolves chat to us about their inventive animated music video for ‘Same Two Songs’, which explores the concept of getting stuck in monotonous cycles, while also providing a gentle nudge towards stepping outside of habit and embracing new opportunities.
Why did you choose an animated video to accompany 'Same 2 Songs'?
I tried a few options for this video. Its our debut single so we are new to the music video side of things so the first instinct was to shoot a standard lip synch into the camera with maybe a few effects. This looked a bit boring and we didn’t have the skills to edit it in a way that brought it to life, so I searched for some abstract ideas on YouTube and Pixabay. Luckily, I found the work of Fernando and Stef, whose animations really fitted the music.
How does the video connect with the song?
I think the slow scrolling reflects the medium tempo of the song, and also fits the 'I've been walking down the same 4 roads" lyric, where the scrolling kind of feels like walking without thinking. I love how certain elements of the collage are revealed as the songs hits a certain point, such as the chorus, where a parachute comes sailing down (not hugely relevant but looks great).
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
I've asked Fernando to comment on this but he's a busy man. My behind the scenes lowlights were pulling my hair out trying to edit the separate parts of the video together (I had to learn basic video editing from scratch). Also, working on it after having a few beers. Rookie error.
Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
This is another one for Fernando, but I love his choices of mid-Century American imagery. Also, the epic sections, e.g. where the cityscape melds into the mountain scene really messes with your idea of scale. It’s also very inventive in the juxtaposition of disparate elements, such as the inverted mountain with a man holding on. Also, I feel the outro of the song where another animated collage technique by Stef is faded in, works really well. The final image of the woman lying on the beach looking up is my favourite bit.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
The songs message is about getting stuck doing the same repetitive things, which is easy to do, and not breaking out from this. I think the videos pace reflects this, and some of the imagery. But at the same time, the varied scenes and imaginative collage work, contrast this message, which could be seen as ‘look at all this cool shit waiting for you' if you step out of habit.
Interview by Karla Harris