At the top of the month, we heard the first of two team-ups between Los Angeles weird-wave godhead Ariel Pink and New York art-rock brainiac Jorge Elbrecht. Released as a 7-inch on Mexican Summer, “Hang on to Life” offered a hazy, dazed dreamscape of summer-ready soft rock that soothed even though its lyrics spoe of regret: “You screwed the pooch now face it / The truth is in the sky / Intrusions of our youthful delusion rules our life.”
Now, thanks to directing team Alejandro Cardenas and Elbrecht himself, we’ve got a very fitting video to go with. In the clip, we see a fairly forelorn Pink smoking cigarettes and singing as his songwriting partner nods his head in solemn solidarity. The overlaid image of a Golden Retriever represents a distant happy memory, and Haunted Graffiti guitarist Tim Koh cameos as the buddy on the other end of the line at the song’s end, when a distorted caller lays out some serious relationship drama.