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Music

Flexing Muscles, Twitching Temples and Pumping Lungs: Here's the New Palace Video

Something about this video makes you feel like you're drifting into a bittersweet trance.

North London band Palace have had a rapid rise to fame since their debut EP back in 2014. Now, signed to Fiction Records, they are giving their colourful and winding indie burner "Head Above The Water" some abstract video treatment, which we're premiering exclusively on Noisey.

There is something seductively primal about this video. It's fleshy and corporeal; it thrives on pumping veins, flexing muscles, contracting stomachs, twitching temples, and clenched eyes. And throughout the video, your mind is drawn to wonder what invisible force is provoking this aggressive anatomical pageant? Is it the Greco-Roman statue in the carrier bag? Probably. He definitely looks shifty. Anyway, something about the intensity of these visuals contrasting with the creeping melodies of "Head Above The Water" makes you feel like you're drifting into some sort of bittersweet hypnagogic trance.

The video was directed by the talented Oliver Hadlee Perch, who has already built a steady reputation in the video world for his directing work with Jungle. He described his inspiration:

“When you are swept up by a wave, you are caught underwater. Not knowing which way is up or down, left or right. This was sort of the starting point for this video. This idea of confusion. Concussion even. Dreams played a big part in this film. How many different scenes can sit side by side harmoniously. I wanted to try and create mini narratives which all lead the same way yet are completely removed from each other. Tied together. Across the video we want the audience to be hypnotized, drawn in yet not knowing why or how.”

So there you have it. Watch the exclusive premiere below.

Palace's Chase The Light EP is out now. "Head Above The Water" will be released as a single on September 7th via Fiction Records.