Critically acclaimed Brooklyn/LA indie rock quartet Grizzly Bear's new music video for “Mourning Sound” - “a playful, pastel-drenched commentary on women’s liberation" - has been gaining kudos from critics (for its feminist message) and criticism from some fans (for daring to be political). Directed by Beatrice Pegard and filmed in Paris, the surreal video features a defiant bride (Clémence Poésy, who is best known for playing Fleur Delacour in Harry Potter), an African-American race car driver who pointedly pushes a baby stroller, and a shining African-American botanist - who all lip sync and dance to the song with rhythmic precision. Nipples emit rainbow beams, a surreal ritual takes place in front of the White House, and the band one-up Charli XCX's recent attempt at gender role reversal by featuring anonymous naked (white) male butts as drums.
Drawing influences from 1960s rock, the track conjures a sparkling, relentless atmosphere of imminent triumph and jubilation. Ed Droste's cerebral and heartfelt verses are nevertheless riddled with a vaguely morose ambivalence, combining a defeatist personal retrospective ('I made a mistake/ I should have never tried ... Let love age/ And watch it burn out and die') and a steely determination to have his way ('I took the cake/ Finished every slice/ I moved away/ Still playing off the fights'). Daniel Rossen joins him on the chorus, drawing inspiration from his morning walks upstate to create an open-ended atmosphere of collective societal unease: 'We woke with the mourning sound/ It's the sound of distant shots and passing trucks'.
The track serves as the perfect song to reel listeners into their recently released fifth album (2017). There is sweeping grandeur, psychedelic beauty, and palpable melancholy: all the emotions that the album title evokes.
