I regularly hear this new Calexico song on the radio, when I am driving, since the car is the only place where I still listen to radio! And ‘Falling From the Sky’ is a great tune, breezy and so promising with fabulous horns during the catchy chorus, mixing optimism and melancholia: ‘Where do you fall when you have nowhere to go?/Where do you go where you have no one to see?/What do you see when you have nothing to feel?/What do you feel when you’re all alone?’
But what were they thinking when they made this video? Did they want to alienate all their fans? I am just joking, I like bands taking risks and with videos, anything goes these days. Curiously the song features Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell, but the video features Junip’s frontman, Jose Gonzales, who is taking care of a giant worm-like creature! This penis-like hairy thing with an anus-like mouth (sorry but it is a disturbing sight) resembles the sort of creature coming straight from a David Lynch movie or a Kafka novel, the sort of vision which makes you so uncomfortable you do know if you should feel pity or disgust or both.
The mini movie was directed by Mikel Cee Karlsson who had this to say about the bizarre concept:
‘The idea[s] for this video have been lingering for a while, ever since I saw Albin Karlsson and Björn Renner’s worm-like creation made for a show at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm. In original form, the “worm” was strictly covered in black leather. But I wanted to make it more like a living thing, like an evolutionary side step, a creature that is stuck in its codependency and has rather few possibilities in this world but still has the capacity to dream of better things.
I also had the idea that I wanted to make a two part video on the same story and tell it from two different perspectives.
When I heard Calexico’s “Falling from the Sky” I felt that I heard the perspective of the creature, or rather the perspective of anyone who find themselves in a similar mindset or situation.
So, this video is actually part I of II, or more precisely, perspective I of II of this relationship.’
And apparently, part II will be the next Jose Gonzales’ video as Calexico’s Joey Burns explained: ‘Here is a beautiful and unusual video concept from Mikel Cee Karlsson who has done a two part video series for José Gonzalez and Calexico. It was a nice surprise to see something new and different in the realm of music videos. Hope you enjoy it.’
Enjoy is not exactly the right word, but it’s weird (or not) how a collaboration between Swedish guys via Argentina and Arizona can produce something as disturbing as a Buñuel movie,…‘Falling From the Sky’ is a track from Calexico’s brand new LP ‘Edge of the Sun’, which dropped this Friday and has plenty of multi-horizons influences. Meanwhile, let’s this one haunts your next nightmare!
