Sometimes it’s good to forgive and forget when it comes to past relationships, and other times it’s better just to break shit, which is exactly what happens in the new music video for Metronomy’s “Hang Me Out to Dry.”
The hypnotic lead single, featuring vocals from Swedish songstress Robyn, appeared on the electronic group’s Summer 08 album and is centered around the experience of being in love and surrendering yourself to each other in a relationship (“take me out for a ride/do whatever you feel like/You’re behind the wheel”). However with the release of the music video, the group has added a different element to the track, one that is a little more painful.
The video starts with a woman leaning against a 70’s Dodge Aspen as she lights a cigarette. She turns to face the car, and we see flashes of a former relationship with a man in the reflection of the windows and mirrors. Memories of the two staring into each other’s eyes, kissing and making love cascade across the car as she remorsefully speeds down the road.
The memories start to become painful instead of pleasant when she looks in the rear-view mirror, where we see the same man caught being unfaithful with another woman. As synths bounce and pulsate over the beat, our unnamed protagonist drives herself to an abandoned lot and proceeds to destroy the classic car (did you really need to burn a classic like that??) along with her memories of her unfaithful lover. Instead of being literally driven by her past memories of a toxic relationship, she rejects the chorus entirely and instead destroys the vehicle altogether, taking control for herself.
The video itself was directed by Paris/Montreal filmmaking collective Dent de Cuir, who commented “A great man of cinema once said: ‘All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.’ We just swapped the gun for a car. This concept offered a great metaphor: love is just a car ride.”
You can read mxdwn’s review of Summer 08 here and watch the video for the other single off the album, “Night Owl” here. Also be sure to read our interview with Metronomy frontman Joseph Mount here.
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