Gritty footage of orchestral performances. A small plane flying over mountains. Men standing in line to punch into work. Local psych-pop trio June Bloom’s take on modern life is overwhelmingly disjointed, chaotic, and hypnotic as shown by their new lyric video for “Anywhere.” The song stems from frontman Patrick Carr’s reflection on monotonous living and concerns about his future. He finds himself comparing his life to those of other people, and decides to pave his own way.
The video tells a story of overstimulation in the modern age culminating in a release from societal restraints and finding peace in following one’s own path. Created by local filmmaker Nick Vandenberg, the video is a journey through a jumbled array of vintage clips and animations, ending in a long, solitary shot of a spaceship leaving Earth. The lyrics interact with the images by weaving through them and circling around them, emanating some sort of psychedelic karaoke.
“Anywhere” begins with overpopulated images that compliment the light-hearted tune reflecting a manifestation of anxiety about the future. As the song progresses, frontman Patrick Carr hazily sings, “don’t blame the maps when you’re getting lost” and “start from anywhere I want to” over a wurlitzer organ, a type of organ first produced to accompany silent films. Bassist Charley Ruddell and drummer Joshua Strmic establish order below the wurlitzer with a steady and forward-moving pulse.
The song gains momentum with a build up of synthesizers and kaleidoscopic images until they collapse into a deconstructed melody. Soon after, it accelerates into a second build up, symbolizing the release of everyday anxiety. “I wanted to both observe this anxiety and release it from my thoughts, if only for a little while.” Carr said. The latter part experiments the most with psychedelic sounds reminiscent of the trancelike atmosphere of Animal Collective, fluctuating between order and chaos.
The video culminates in a group of people leaving Earth in a solitary spaceship, backed by a slow and cosmic-sounding fade out. They have given themselves up to their futures. Carr explains: “The image of the spaceship leaving earth and floating serenely through the cosmos reflects the tranquility of letting go of things which you have no control.”