Django Django share a poker-faced video comprised mostly of images of urban buildings. The song is the first video off their upcoming album announced for a May release, Born Under Saturn.
Visually, the video consists of a juxtaposition of natural and fabricated elements. Though we start out focusing on clouds, these soon give way to an equally placid series of skyscraper pan out shots. The video’s slow pacing begs for thorough investigation, especially when paired with the bouncy, New Wave tempo of the song. A few crucial shots might lend us some clues: 1) Though clouds frequently obscure the passive shots of massive buildings, there is an extended shot of a steam vent releasing billowing plumes of smoke out a manufacturing window, making the audience question if the clouds represent nature triumphing over urban sprawl or are just another byproduct of mass production; 2) We also see a number of shots, wherein the sun’s image is thrown off the windows of the buildings that surround us, which suggests that we could mistake the sun for it’s reflection. It seems clear that the impression we get of nature is distorted by the lens of our urban outlook, which may very easily be the band and director’s intentions. In fact, this interpretation is supported by the song’s first verse:
Sending out a signal from the city we went
Towards a future that is greener than the money we spend
Discover beaches buried deeper underneath the cement
Look down through the cracks for the gold that they’re hiding
Got in feel the wind that move through clothes that we walk
But we climb tighter through the hell spawn ’till we reach a new shore
More to be nourished by the heat that radiates in the stars
Like down in the sun and get something for nothing
The song itself was released via Soundcloud in mid-January, the first new music the group had released in almost two years. “First Light” is also the first video the band has released since “Hand of Man” in 2013, and the first video the Scottish quartet has released off their forthcoming album, Born Under Saturn.
After the 2012 release of their self-titled debut full-length, fans have had to wait three years for the followup, which is due out on March 5th on Ribbon Music stateside and Because Music internationally. According to the same press release for “First Light,” Born Under Saturn promises an even more adventurous album from the art rock/electronica group:
Their sophomore album, Born Under Saturn, expands on the slippery, indefinable nature of their self-titled debut, applying all of it’s giddy art-rock imagination only across a much larger canvas. Throughout, Django Django continues to find magic in the unexplored spaces between musical genres. Beach Boys harmonies and Link Wray riffs crisscross with house music pianos, while classical keyboard flourishes meld with reggae swing.
The band has also committed to a number of tour dates, including a performance at Webster Hall in NYC on July 7th and prominent spot at Polish Open’er Festival on July 1st-4th. If you can’t afford the travel, then you might be more interested in the following dates.
Born Under Saturn 2015 Tour
May 02: Aberdeen, UK – Lemon Tree
May 03: Glasgow, UK – Live At Glasgow
May 13: Portsmouth, UK – Pyramids Centre
May 14: Sheffield, UK – The Plug
May 15: Brighton, UK – The Great Escape – The Corn Exchange
May 18: Norwich, UK – Waterfront/UAE
May 19: London, UK – KOKO
May 21: Bristol, UK – O2 Academy
May 22: Warwick, UK – Warwick Arts Centre Butterworth Hall
May 23: Manchester, UK – Cathedral
May 30: Paris, FR – We Love Green #4 – Parc de Bagatelle
Jun 06: London, UK – Field Day Festival
Jul 02: Gdynia, PL – Open’er Festival
Jul 28: New York, NY – Webster Hall
Aug 06: Los Angeles, CA – Mayan Theatre
Aug 22: Hamburg, DE – Dockville
Aug 23: Biddinghuizen, NL – Lowlands
Sep 04: Larmer Tree Gardens, UK – End of the Road Festival
Watch the the new video for “First Light” below.
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