Tag: Video Review: Spiral

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Polycool Shares Slow-Burning “Spiral”

French psych pop outfit Polycool quickly established a unique sound that drew from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Air, Sebastian Tellier, Nick Hakim, Connan Moccasin and others with the release of 2019’s full-length debut, Lemon Lord. The album’s material received airplay onRadio Nova, FIP, France Inter, Les Inrocks and others. 

Building upon a growing profile in their native France, the rising psych pop outfit has played sets at 2019’s Printemps de Bourges and 2020’s We Love Green. 

If you were following this site last year, you might recall that the members of the rising psych pop outfit related two singles:

  • “Something Between Us,” a breezy and infectious bop centered around a strutting bass line, glistening synth arpeggios, Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar paired with a dance floor friendly hook and and a seductive falsetto delivery. The end result was a song that sounded like a slick synthesis of the Bee Gees and Tame Impala. 

  • “Unlike You,” a swaggering and sultry song centered around glistening synth arpeggios, a strutting, Quiet Storm-like groove and buzzing guitars paired with a plaintive falsetto delivery and the band’s ability to craft an infectious hook. But underneath the sultry facade is something much more uneasy and menacing — the dysfunctional past relationship that you can’t escape from, that you can’t stop obsessively thinking of. 

Polycool starts off the new year with “Spiral,” a sultry. slow-burning and atmospheric bit of synth pop that to my ears seems like a slick synthesis of brooding melancholy, Quiet Storm soul and MGMT-like psych pop centered around a strutting bass line, glistening synths, and a buzzing yet soulful guitar solo paired with an achingly plaintive falsetto and the band’s unerring knack for razor sharp hooks. The song describes an uneasy and complicated affair of the heart — one in which lust and love are hopelessly confused.

Directed by Tino Gelli, the accompanying video for “Spiral” is shot in grainy yet sumptuous Super 8-styled black and white in the countryside.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New VIdeo: Hello Mary Shares Trippy and Uneasy “Spiral”

Brooklyn-based indie rock trio Hello Mary — Helena Straight (guitar, vocals), Mikaela Oppenheimer (bass), and Stella Wave (drums, vocalsmutl) — can trace their origins back to high school: Oppenheimer and Straight started th band when they were high school freshmen. When they met Wave through happenstance, the trio became an inseparable unit with the band consisting of good friends, who are also bandmates.

With the release of a handful of singles and their debut EP, 2020’s Ginger, the Brooklyn-based trio have quickly established and cemented a sound that meshes elements of shoegaze, indie rock and grunge paired with the band’s multipart harmonies. Their Bryce Goggin-produced, self-titled, full-length debut is slated for a March 3, 2023 release through Frenchkiss Records. The album reportedly sees the band referencing 90s alt rock, Elliot Smith and Jeff Buckley — while nodding at contemporaries like Palberta, Spirit of the Beehive and Palehound, acts that don’t shy away from unusual time signatures, careening feedback and unconventional harmonies.

The album will feature several previously released singles including “Rabbit,” “Sink In,” “Stinge,” and “Looking Right Into the Sun,” all of which were recorded in a proper studio and won attention outside of the Brooklyn music scene. Hello Mary’s Stella Wave describes those singles as the first proper introduction to the band.

The album’s material — both lyrics and music — were written in tandem, with the trio knotting their perspectives into a singular consciousness. “We collaborate on everything,” Oppenheimer says, “from our lyrics to guitar parts and even bass and drums sometimes.” Unsurprisingly, the album was written during our current period of immense uncertainty and unease.  “We were battling things personally, the world was battling COVID,” Wave says. “This might sound vague,” Wave adds “but to me, this album is about accepting the state of things as they are at a given moment, whether it’s your relationship to another person or the world around you.” 

The self-titled album’s latest single “Spiral” is a decidedly 120 Minutes-era MTV-like anthem centered around swirling guitar textures, Oppenheimer’s and Straight’s gorgeous and ethereal harmonies paired with Oppenheimer’s driving baseline and a steady backbeat. The song’s narrator directs their angst and unease to an unknown other, who may have wronged them — or fucked them over.

“‘Spiral’ is about the feelings of paranoia and jealousy that can come with relationships, and how these feelings can become so strong that they turn into delusions,” the band explains.

Directed and edited by Isaac Roberts, the accompanying video for “Spiral” was shot on what appears to be grainy Super 8 at The Slipper Room and Tompkins Square Park, and captures the spiraling jealous and paranoia of someone in an unsteady relationship.