Protomartyr have released new single & video for “Worm In Heaven”, off of their forthcoming album, Ultimate Success Today, which has had its release date moved to July 17th, out on Domino.
The accompanying video, directed by Trevor Naud, is a collection of abstract still images stitched together. It was inspired by the 1962 Chris Marker short film La Jetée and was shot using limited resources, mainly a 35mm film camera, with no film crew. As the video goes on, the images grow stranger and more off-putting.
“The idea is a sort of dream chamber that has lured its creator into a near-constant state of isolation,” says director Trevor Naud. “She lives out her days trapped as the sole subject of her own experiment: the ability to simulate death. It is like a drug to her. Everything takes place in a small, claustrophobic environment. With soft, yet sterile visuals. Perhaps a strange combo to reference, but imagine the cover of the Rolling Stones’ Goats Head Soup and the character of Carol White in Todd Haynes’ 1995 film Safe.”
“I’d been experimenting with shooting multiples of still photographs and stitching them together so that there’s subtle movement,” explains Naud, “almost like a 3-D camera effect, but awkward and sort of unsettling–like looking at a photograph under shallow water. I shot upwards of 700 still frames on a Nikon F Photomic camera. I embraced the lines and artifacts from the film scans, which give a sort of Xerox quality to some of the images. All the special effects were done in-camera using mirrors, projectors and magnifying glasses.”
Watch/listen to “Worm In Heaven” below:
Protomartyr’s UK and European shows have been rescheduled, see new dates below.. Additionally, the band must sadly cancel their scheduled US tour dates, and look forward to bringing these songs on the road as soon as safely possible.
Protomartyr tour dates
9th September -The Lexington, London
10th September – Peckham Audio, London
11th September – La Boule Noire, Paris
12th September – Rotown, Rotterdam
13th September – Vera, Groningen
15th September – Lido, Berlin
16th September – Ekko, Utrecht
17th September – Botanique (Orangerie), Brussels
18th September – Hop Pop Hop Festival, Orleans, France
19th September – Levitation Festival, Angers, France