Merchandise's 4AD debut, After The End, won't be available until August 25, but the Tampa-based outfit has wasted no time giving us tastes of the 10-track effort.
Yesterday, frontman Carson Cox & Co. unleashed a five-minute clip for the album's second song, and where a previous video for "Little Killer" was a green-screen gem, the video for "Enemy" is a more reality-based affair. Yes, there's an eyeball buried in the dirt plus at least one laundry machine portal scene, but for the most part the offering is based in the real world.
"Horror! Disgust! These are things that I want to know. Madness! Maybe I should've saved these leftover dreams for something else," Cox wrote. "This is a bit of comedy about everything. Mars ins't the kind of placebo to raise your kids, in factotum it's cold as hell. I think the video speaks for itself."
The Timothy Sasccenti-directed visual definitely does, and it's another homage to the golden age of music video.
Saccenti has worked with a host of artists including Flying Lotus, Phantogram, Franz Ferdinand, Depeche Mode, Usher, and Animal Collective, and he helps Merchandise subtly wear its Tampa-ness on its sleeve in the video thanks to scenes shot at the Tampa Theatre and around the city. The laundromat sequences look like everyday views of Florida Avenue, and a waterside footchase feels familiarly Tampanian.
Have a look at the clip below, and pre-order the album here.