The Hull, Quebec-based band Scattered Clouds initially started in 2010 as a solo home studio project and eventually expanded to its current lineup – a trio consisting of Philippe Charbonneau, Pierre-Luc Clément and Jamie Kronick. Now, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past few months, you may remember coming across the video for “Enchantresse,” off the Canadian band’s recently released full-length debut, The First Empire. The album’s latest single, album title track “The First Empire” may begin to cement a reputation for a darkly atmospheric and cinematic sound that evokes a tense, anxiety – the sort of anxiety that should feel familiar to us, as it seems that human civilization is slowly inching towards annihilation. Interestingly, “The First Empire” is a rather sparsely arranged track – most of the track is comprised of stormy drumming, throbbing bass chords and ethereally whispered vocals paired with ominously swirling synths and bursts of horn towards the end. 

The official video was created by multi-disciplinary artist, HILOTRONS frontman and collaborator Mike Dubue. Featuring cut and edited scenes from Norman D. Wells’ 1967 sci-fi movie Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (released and known in the old Soviet Union as Planeta Blur), the video is set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian future that vaguely resembles something familiar to us – and the way the video is edited, it explores themes of colonialism, revenge, supernatural powers and death in an eerie, unsettling fashion that’s fitting for such an deeply anxious song. 

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