The Donnybrook Writing Academy

I’ll admit it: in a previous lifetime, I was a DJ for hipster kids in Manhattan. For much of this time, I was joined by a very personable, smart fellow named Dan who went on to start a record label out of his Brooklyn apartment called Friendly Fire Recordings. Even though I would never foist something unworthy upon your ears, I thought you should know that since Faunts is one of the bands he wisely signed to his then-fledgling label.

This new video comes from the band’s digital-only EP M4, the music for which was originally conceived as the score for three independent films. As with their beautiful debut release, High Expectations/Low Results, the music here is post-shoegaze in origin and epic in weight, albeit with more of an early new-wave sheen. I could go on about their strengths as a band, but what I really want to discuss here is the video.

With production values that at least appear to be surprisingly high, the video achieves the feat of casting a beach shoreline setting as foreboding territory. If the whole thing takes itself a little too seriously, it’s easy to forgive given how captivating the silent narrative unfolds. Without getting into specifics, suffice it to say that there are crabs and sandcastles involved, and that the clip does an excellent job of underscoring the subtly dark lining to Faunts’ densely layered sound. It’s a strange video, to be sure–it’s starkly gladiatorial premise a bizarre and powerful statement–but it is somehow a perfect fit for the track.