Behind the Lens: Broken Bells' Video for "After the Disco"

Broken Bells release their long-awaited second album,

Beyond the Disco,

today. It's their first in four years. To celebrate this, and because we're super nosey about what goes on behind the scenes at video shoots, above is a glimpse into the BB's creative process on their promo for "After the Disco."

In addition to this, Noisey's sister site, the Creators Project has been tracking the other-wordly escapades of actors Anton Yelchin and Kate Mara as they star in Broken Bells' two-part short film, After The Disco.

The two shorts, directed by Jacob Gentry and produced by POPfilms in conjunction with The Creators Project, follow Yelchin's character, as he slips into a parallel universe and finds love in the form of a fallen astronaut (Mara). Things get complicated as a surreal spaceship picks up them up and they get tangled in a nightmarish cosmonaut party.

The above mini-doc includes conversations with the director, stars, and Danger Mouse and James Mercer of Broken Bells, with Gentry summed up why a collaboration like this is so grandiose and special:

"It's a really exciting time for a filmmaker to be working with musicians, because never before have those two things been so intrinsically linked. The format has completely moved -- there's now always a visual component to the music you're hearing. I think that since it's a wild west of possibilities, there aren't any rules anymore."

The artists also talked about how Broken Bells' new album is "almost like a soundtrack for a movie that doesn't exist." To make the film version of After The Disco a success, the team had to "reverse-engineer the music" in order to do the tunes justice.

Danger Mouse elaborated, adding that since they filmed using both real locations and CGI, the short made the music even "bigger and grander."

Get get lost in space and re-visit the short films below:

Broken Bells, After The Disco, Part One: Angel And The Fool

Broken Bells, After The Disco, Part Two: Holding On For Life

A version of this article originally appeared on The Creator's Project.