(self-released, 2017)
You movin’? Yeah, we movin’. The Royal Arctic Institute is always movin’, the road-trip-movie soundtrackery of The French Method still in our ears, still pumping from John and Gerard’s amps (and Lyle’s drums), still blasting from cassette decks everywhere. Instead of the rubber hitting the road, though, on the brand-spankin’-new (this is a premiere after all) video for “Japanese Viperina,” director Lucky Hammer aka Dave Rygalski opts for the canvas hitting whatever surface canvas hits throughout this thing. Because we’re talking about shoes, man, feet boxes, like my grandfather used to call them! (He didn’t.) LHakaDR follows feet wherever they roam, all with the bluesy riffs of the Royal Arctic Institute as their inspiration. Because the RAI is all about the people, the populace, the fans, you, they were intent on giving back, reigniting the toe-tapping intensity of daily life in all its crazy iterations. And “Japanese Viperina” delivers – you can imagine yourself in any one of the situations flitting cross your screen, whether it’s the beach, the crosswalk, or the wiggly freedom of midair. All this, of course, is juxtaposed with lens flares that would make JJ Abrams blush like a nun watching Game of Thrones for the first time. (And Game of Thrones is almost back you guys!) But enough about what I think of all of this – take a gander at this excellence right here:
See the Royal Arctic Institute on tour or else! Well, only if you’re in New York or Hoboken. And you’re around next week.
Saturday 7/8 – Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn
Monday 7/10 – Chez Minuo at Issyra Gallery in Hoboken, NJ
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