Girl Band – In Plastic (Official Music Video)
Irish noise-punk/post-punk group Girl Band have the odd ability to calmly hypnotize while causing a fiery stirring from within. The Dublin-based quartet create an uneasy sense of anxiety with their dark combination of chords and rhythms, but at the same time provide a charge of energy through growling distortion and drone-like endurance. From their debut album Holding Hands With Jamie, Girl Band have shared the new music video for “In Plastic”, one of the band’s quieter, more introspective songs – although not without their dense power.
Matching the song’s hypnotic style, the music video captures the idea of anxiety and control. Directed by long-time friend and collaborator Bob Gallagher, “In Plastic” takes on a “Kafka-esque” universe, creating an unwelcoming sense through quick cuts and hyper-centered shots as if Wes Anderson decided to shoot a psychological thriller. Gallagher explains:
“I think I pitched the idea to the band as the fever dream Kafka might have if he ever read 1984. It’s not set in a particular place or period. Some of the references and inspirations are historical and some are quite recent. It’s a mish-mash of influences, and a lot of it was shaped by conversations with the band. The video is obviously totally ridiculous in many ways, but it touches on themes of surveillance, paranoia, and how arbitrary the construct of a border can seem, which are all very contemporary anxieties. When I see clips of Donald Trump talking about deporting people and building walls I have to remind myself that I’m not watching an absurd alternate reality.“
Get sucked into the mind of Gallagher and Girl Band below, and get your copy of Holding Hands With Jamie through their website.
