Emerging from the immense success of Little Red, Melbourne’s New Gods have justified their ironic band name in an entirely un-ironic way. Their debut LP Beloved takes the best of 90s indie rock gods like Pavement and the Pixies, filtering it through the studio wizardry of Dave Fridmann and the tape-warp hallmarks of hypnagogic pop. The result is unique and thematically coherent as it explores vast sonic territory.
Their debut LP, Beloved was released as a digital cassette available online, accompanied by a handwritten track list and a series of photographs that only reinforce how honest and how personal the songs are. Songwriter Dominic Byrne writes songs with undeniable emotional weight, dripping with the kind of nuanced emotion that’s miles away from the half-baked drama that often passes for “emotion” in popular music.
“[Filmakers] Richard and Qiu got in touch with us after hearing Beloved online,” says Byrne. “They seemed to have a strong connection with the music and so we met up and talked about the song (deciding on ‘I Love You Too’) and what a potential filmclip could be.”
“I didn’t really have anything to do with the filmclip apart from having a feeling that these guys would make something beautiful for the song and so saying yes and contributing towards camera hire. I’m very glad we did it as i find the film lonely and moving and a sympathetic setting for the song and accompaniment for the album. in fact it really makes me sad watching it.”
While still studying at the prestigious film school of Victorian College of the Arts, this music video officially marks Qiu’s first music video. Possibly due to his painting background, he finds himself inevitably attracted to classic art forms, where he believes that he can learn more about today’s world than from modern arts.
Qiu says that the idea of the music video wad to make something that was simple, yet powerful. “We wanted to make something different from most mainstream music videos being produced these days. So we referenced back to some classic paintings and films and tried to express the feeling of loneliness and separation just via imagery.”
New Gods will play a launch show in Melbourne in support of Beloved.
Saturday 21 December – The Toff
with special guests
$12 on the door
