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Watch Smith Westerns’ Sunny, Romantic ‘Varsity’ Video

smith westerns, varsity, soft will

Smith Westerns issued “Varsity,” the daydreamy lead single off the Chicago band’s upcoming Soft Will LP, several weeks back, but now the trio have shared its sublime music video. “I wanted to make a non-narrative video clip about young love without showing the usual conventions of going on dates or hanging out at the mall,” director Alan Del Rio Ortiz said in a statement. “We studied [a] couple as they would study themselves and each other in their dreams, and used abstractly sexual imagery to give it a hallucinogenic and hazy atmosphere.” 

The above short definitely maintains an otherworldly, euphoric vibe. Smith Westerns’ “Varsity” (the garage-glam equivalent to U2’s “The Sweetest Thing”) is paired with an intimate view of a young couple cuddling, sharing cigarettes, making out, and jumping around on a rooftop, all while bathed in either purplish indoor lighting or magic-hour sunbeams. 

Soft Will, the follow-up to 2011’s Dye It Blonde, arrives on June 25 via Mom + Pop. Smith Westerns have also announced a North American tour in support of their upcoming third album, which kicks off on July 21 in Nashville and wraps in October during this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Smith Westerns 2013 tour dates:

July 21 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
July 23 – Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat
July 24 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
July 26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
July 27 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
July 28 – Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Mile End
July 29 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
August 2 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
August 5 – Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room
August 6 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
August 7 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
August 9 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Festival
August 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
August 11 – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House
August 12 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
August 15 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
August 16 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
August 17 – Vancouver, BC @ Electric Owl
August 20 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
October 4-6 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
October 11-13 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival