Blondes were smart to release their new album as a whole first, and a video for its standout song second. When the spaced-out, disco-not-disco combo of Sam Haar and Zach Steinman shared sophomore album Swisher out of nowhere last month, it demanded to be addressed as a whole. SPIN called it a “huge step up for the duo, and one that significantly raises the bar for the indie/dance/noise sector as a whole.”
But ambrosial finale “Elise” is clearly the brightest and most immediately heart-stopping track on a record that otherwise coldly ditches the euphoric surge of Blondes’ 2011 self-titled debut. To wit, we said the song “bubbles with optimism.” If it had come out as an advance single, the buzz might’ve been all about how the album “fails to deliver on its promise.” Now it’s all from-here-we-go-sublime afterglow.
Point is, Blondes have shared a video for “Elise,” and like the Swisher full-album stream visuals that came before, it’s directed by Greg Zifcak. The band’s reps call it “an exercise in analog video synth experimentation that accompanies [the music] in stimulated syncopation.” We’re not sure what we’d call it, but we’ll watch it again.
