Australian post-punk five-piece Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever were planning to record their new video for "Falling Thunder" at the Eolian Hall in Melbourne before lockdown set in and the band were confined to their homes. So, instead, the third single from their second LP Sideways to New Italy comes alongside footage taken by the band's friend, visual artist Jamieson Moore, on vacation off the coast of Italy last year, between Sicily, Sardinia, and the Aeolian Islands.
The song itself seems wistful, but, the band wrote in an email to The FADER this morning, it's not as breezy as it seems. "This song is about pushing on through the relentless march of time, against the constant cycle of seasons," they wrote. "And the way people change and relationships change. It’s set in that time when autumn is turning into winter and the trees are getting bare." Almost by accident, with international travel canceled, the video reflects that melancholy. It is, they said, "a kind of a love letter to a particular place, and the magic of traveling."
Watch the video for "Falling Thunder" at the top of the page. Sideways to New Italy is out June 5 via Sub Pop.
Thumbnail image: Peter Ryle c/o Sub Pop.