Cosmic Strip Bring Trippy Psychedelia to Kew Gardens
Photo by Charlotte Patmore

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Music

Cosmic Strip Bring Trippy Psychedelia to Kew Gardens

The band’s latest release “Echo Chamber” is probably the perfect thing to have on in the background while getting stoned and thinking about trees.
Ryan Bassil
London, GB

Kew Gardens is one of the best places in London. Housing what it calls the “the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world", it is adored by pensioners, horticulture enthusiasts and stoned teenagers alike. It’s also, until now, not really been used as a music video location.

“We were so over the moon we could go there, I’m really honoured,” says Camella Agabalyan of London-based band Cosmic Strip, who make soaring shoegaze-like music that could also be cherished by those aforementioned, red-eyed teenagers. The group’s new video “Echo Chamber” takes place in The Hive – a 17-metre tall multi-sensory experience designed to highlight what it’s like to be a bee. If you live in London you’ve probably seen adverts for the exhibition plastered all over tube stations, and if you haven’t here’s a picture. Or you could just watch the video below.

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“We only had an hour there, we had to run out and get everything done,” says Agabalyan. Luckily, given the video was filmed back in October, they were blessed with good weather – slices of early morning sunshine that have been warped in post-production to give the track a psychedelic, dream-like edge. It’s also the first music video to be directed by photographer Charlotte Patmore, who you’ll probably recognise from her shoots with everyone from King Krule to Charli XCX.

Massive beehive structures aside, the video’s concept centres around the idea of echo chambers – the virtual space that’s been perpetuated by social media accounts where life is dictated by who you follow. Patmore says it like this: “We wanted the video to represent the current constrictions of beauty and social media by being trapped in your own world and only seeing what would be your own ‘echo chamber’. We’re all bombarded with images and viewpoints of perfection from peers we idolise but we don’t ever see the full picture – what future does that provide for us?”

Written around the time of last year’s general election, there’s a political slant to the track too – another link to the idea of echo chambers. The end result is something that sits between sci-fi and a psychedelic trip, culminating in a maelstrom of images that move rapidly between The Hive and the video’s other locations, London venue The Borderline, and somewhere in Peckham which has been covered in a shit-load of foil. If you’re into the idea of pondering the state of the world while listening to music that sits somewhere between Ride and Beach House, maybe taking some shrooms, this is for you.

The track and video forms the first release from Cosmic Strip’s debut EP, which is due to be released in August and followed by a tour. Naturally, despite releasing “Echo Chamber”, Cosmic Strip are already looking toward the future. “Now we’ve written an even bigger song that feels like a score,” says Camella. Judging by the location of this video, lets have them strolling around the Louvre next.

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