TV On The Radio are finally back with zingy new video! New York-based band has revealed a music video for ‘Happy Idiot’ – prefatory hit from their much anticipated fifth LP ‘Seeds’.
Directed by Danny Jelinek and written by Jake Fogelnest, the clip features Paul Reubens (aka Racer Steven) as a retro race driver losing his mind in a desert, and Doctor Who’s star Karen Gillan as a seductive phantom, with TOTR in white suits looking like background singing ghosts. All of this mixed with dynamically monotonous rhythm of the song – sounds great.
Here’s what TV On The Radio’s frontman Tunde Adebimpe says about the filming:
“I had this idea for the video that I thought would never happen, of Paul Reubens as a race car driver who slowly loses his mind,” says the singer. ” I took it to Funny or Die and they said, ‘That’s great, let’s go for that.'”
“I got to speak with him over the phone about doing it and, in between being blindingly nervous that I was actually talking to an actor who had shaped a LOT of my world view and trying not to freak him out by saying so, he mentioned that he’s been a fan of the band for awhile.”
TOTR’s upcoming album (‘Seeds’ is out November 18 via Harvest Records) will be the first one after 2011’s LP ‘Nine Types Of Light’, and the first long play since the death of bass player Gerard Smith, who was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after finishing work on ‘Nine Types Of Light’.
Watch the insanely attractive ‘Happy Idiot’ short video below: