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Foxygen’s ‘San Francisco’ Video Evokes Teenage Malaise of the 1960s

foxygen, san francisco

Los Angeles child-psych duo Foxygen like to play pretend. When reviewing last year’s Take the Kids Off Broadway, SPIN described the “loopy, lovable youngsters” as being “drunk on the thrill of the discovery,” and singer Sam France and guitarist Jonathan Rado don’t seem ready to turn down the Wes Anderson wonderment any time soon.

In the video for “San Francisco,” the twosome’s new single from upcoming album We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic, a gussied up France teases the camera with batted eyelashes, put-on ponderances, and precise faux-British pronunciations (“Your eyes are like a cup of tea / Ascend into the sun with me”), while Rado maintains the mellow lullaby on acoustic guitar and xylophone. Director Cameron Dutra twirls ’round a retro hotel room — decorated with skulls, vintage cassette players, and viewfinders — and passes France as he traipses through the woods. All the while, France keeps up the Ray Davies impression, intoning “I left my love in San Francisco.” The female backup singer doesn’t sound broken up about it, near-whispering, “That’s okay, I was bored anyway.”

Watch the clip up above and keep an eye out for We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic, out January 22 via Jagjaguwar.