The video for the song ‘Time to Run’ off Lord Huron upcoming album ‘Lonesome Dreams’ (out October 9) could be watched on a large screen, buried in a comfortable theater seat, since it is made to work as a short Technicolor Western, with opening credits, subtitles in some mysterious language, and some big Sergio-Leone-like production. It is not the first time that the LA band goes beyond the usual video,– they had one happening in the middle of a snowy landscape – and this is a band for which the visual is very important. each time, they invite us to dream and travel in exotic places and the music becomes a departure for a visual grand adventure.
The story is supposedly based on a novel by George Ranger Johnson, an author who in fact has never existed, but it can become confusing as the band has built an entire website about him to trick us! The short movie features frontman Ben Schneider and his bandmates embarked in a deadly adventure in the hot desert, but I will let him summarize the story:
‘A tragic tale of the foolish things a man might find himself doing for a woman, and the consequences that foolishness may bring upon him and those around him. It's a tale as old as time — one which has and will be repeated endlessly. We tried to be as true as possible to George Ranger Johnson's book.’
‘The video was helmed by L.A.-based director Arms Race, from a concept we developed in tandem. It was shot during one intensely hot marathon day in the Mojave Desert, and an additional scene filmed that night in Los Angeles. Cinematography was handled by Garret Curtis, and Benjamin Dohrmann edited. Sure hope you enjoy it.’
The bouncy and exotic music with dreamy vocals is already very enjoyable by itself, but I like the way the band has built a whole new mythology around it; all these creative efforts put around the song bring it to another level of cinematic mystery and nostalgia.