An allegory for the end times, a critique of current events, or just some comedic cannibalism, Noah and the MegaFauna’s video for “Liquid Modernity (You Can Never Go Home)” is premiering today on KCRW.com. The video, the first from the band’s debut LP, Anthems for a Stateless Nation (released in October on Silence Breaks), takes place after a great flood. The sea level has risen so high tall buildings stick out like rocks submerged in the ocean. Just like how people danced and sang as the Titanic went down Noah and the MeagaFauna, and a group of well-dressed dancers, make the most of their last moments by performing on the rooftop of a building quickly going underwater. As the band plays, a greedy, tuxedo-clad business with an insatiable desire for human flesh named Saxman Gold (played by actor/director Daniel Stessen) looks on with hungry eyes. One by one he begins to wreak havoc in the already futile scenario.
Noah and MegaFauna: Liquid Modernity (You Can Never Go Home) Official Music Video
Noah and MegaFauna: “Liquid Modernity (You Can Never Go Home)” Official Music Video
The video is the directorial debut of Travis Knight who plays percussion in the 10-member strong band. Visual effects were provided by Michael Garza, one of the lead animators on Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly.” ‘I wanted to tell a story of wandering, displacement, change and flux with words and instrumentation,” explains frontman Noah Lit. “I wanted a modern day desert island, filled with swing dancers, dancing for their lives. Floods and god’s wrath are always kind of on my mind, my name is Noah after all, and I wanted to tell a story about the stupidity of never ending greed. Our villain, Saxman Gold, consumes and consumes until he can’t even get up to help himself. It’s a love letter to musicals, swing dance, and slasher films, and a maybe just a little allegory to current events.”
Noah and the MegaFauna will be heading to New York next month to talk about their Django Reinhardt-inspired gypsy jazz meets indie folk album and play live on John Schaefer’s “Soundcheck” on WNYC on Friday, February 17 at 2 pm EST. That Sunday, February 19, the band will perform at Joe’s Pub where they will be joined by acclaimed jazz singer Kat Edmonson who contributed vocals to the record. They will play a hometown show next Friday, January 27 at the Echoplex in Los Angeles where they will support the feverish gypsy rockers Diego’s Umbrella.
NOAH AND THE MEGAFAUNA LIVE
January 27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
February 17 @ 2 PM EST – Live on WNYC’S “Soundcheck”
February 19 – New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub