As reported by Stereogum, Maggie Rogers has released a new song “Split Stones” as part of an ad campaign for apparel company The North Face. The song is featured in the commercial for the new Ventrix heat-release jacket. The ad intercuts between people in the outdoors zipping up the Ventrix jacket and Rogers walking through the woods. Synced up to the music of the song, the commercial uses a series of quick cuts and edits to give a cinematic vibe and make a new jacket release seem like some groundbreaking moment in time.
Fans can access the song by going to the release project website on a mobile device, but they must perform a series of physical tasks to unlock the track. To reveal the entire song, you have to move around for 35 seconds, as the site uses the motion sensor on your phone to track the movement, peeling back layers of the song. Though honestly, one could simply shake their phone around without having to get up out of their chair if they wanted to.
“Split Stones” does fit the outdoorsy vibe of the commercial as the song has plenty of samples taken from the great outdoors over the course of the past couple of years. According to Rogers, the song has been a work in progress since she took a month-long backpacking trip in Oregon in 2013, which provided the original impetus to combine nature samples with the same anthemic-laced electronic and soaring vocals Rogers has become known for recently.
Ever since moving Pharrell Williams to tears last year with her composition “Alaska” Rogers has been on a huge upswing in popularity, with indie rock bands such as The Kooks covering the song. Also, Rogers released her highly regarded EP Now That The Light Is Fading earlier this year and went on a highly successful string of concert dates as well.
“Split Stones” will be officially released on September 20th.
(Update) You can now watch the music video for “Split Stones” in the player below: