OK GO has done it again. After a four-year hiatus, they will be releasing their new studio album, Hungry Ghosts, this October via Paracadute (pre-order through Pledge Music by clicking on the album link), and last week they released a free four-song EP, Upside Out, along with a mesmerizing video for the first single of the album. They have set the bar high with previous videos for “Here It Goes Again” and “This Too Shall Pass”, in which they performed choreographed treadmill routines and created a Rube Goldberg Machine, but the video for “The Writing’s on the Wall” is so full of delicately coordinated visual tricks that you will need to watch it at least a couple of times to wrap your head around what exactly is going on behind the scenes.
Directed by Aaron Duffy, the video involves intricate rigs of obstacle courses manned by a very large and invisible crew prepared to assist with speedy, out of frame outfit changes and prop adjustments to create a series of mind-boggling optical illusions.
The bandmembers carry out their stunts with deadpan expressions that contrast with the game-like action of the video, but resonate perfectly with airy, hollow sonic effect of the music and the disheartening tone of the lyrics. Lead vocalist, Damian Kulash, describes the experience of grasping at a few pleasurable moments before the inevitable demise of a doomed relationship, as he and the rest of the band methodically make their way through the maze of sets within the set, leaving viewers scratching their heads and trying to make sense of what they just saw.
The video has already received over 7 million views since it was released just over a week ago. Check it out below, and find out why.
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