The Chicago-based punk band Rise Against has released a new music video for their track “Talking To Ourselves.” The track comes off of Rise Against’s previous album, Nowhere Generation, released in June of 2021.

This new music video, directed by Ryan Valdez and produced by Derek Maher, is overloaded with imagery relating to our inability to escape the complacency and loneliness of modern life. In the video, we see people visiting an art museum where every piece seems to be a QR Code. At various points, we see people avoiding meaningful interactions with one another, and instead choosing to watch their phones.

This music video reflects the meaning that Rise Against intend to portray in “Talking To Ourselves,” a song which the band describes as being about “watching yourself and the people around you fall into complacency. Despite your best efforts to get people’s attention, it feels like no one is listening. Sometimes we feel the urge to do something crazy, to disturb the peace, to jostle the world around us awake. Our actions might be seen as out of the ordinary, but they are acts of desperation when all else failed.”

In a statement, Valdez explains that the music video intends “to yet again shed light on us as a society and to expand on the feeling that we have progressively lost our humanity.” In describing the QR code imagery, Valdez states that “In our video, the QR codes represent little windows to the world outside of our bubbles, only to be dismissed and swiped onto the next event.”

Watch the new music video for “Talking To Ourselves” via YouTube below.

The new video drops alongside news that Rise Against have begun their international tour, starting with an April 6 show in Toronto, Canada. Their co-headlined tour in the United States with The Used is set to begin on July 16.

Photo Credit: Marv Watson