Click image to check out the video on RollingStone.com
Miami duo ANR just released their full-length Stay Kids (Deluxe Edition) on 10k Islands and Rolling Stone has premiered the video for the soulful, hurricane-inspired ballad “It’s Around You.”
Stay Kids is a rhythmically propulsive, psychedelic trip that was inspired largely by recent floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other environmental disasters. Much of the album’s lyrics meditate on how such ‘natural’ disasters affect individuals and humanity at large. However, sonically-speaking the album is by no means morose. Instead, the synth-heavy and often danceable material feels triumphant. Each song is a journey through carefully sculpted, dreamy pop soundscapes with frequent, unexpected and exciting detours.
Though the band consists of merely two members – Brian Robertson (Keys, Vocals) and Michael-John Hanock (Vocals, Drums) –they create a powerful sound filled with layered melodies and bountiful hooks. It has landed them shows with bands like Animal Collective, Neon Indian, No Age, and Fucked Up.
Hancock elaborates on the inspiration behind and creation of “It’s Around You”:
“This started out real simple, with just the vocal loop and thoughts of how it’s been six years since a major hurricane hit South Florida. The idea of the song, and the chorus in particular, is to sonically, and even lyrically connect with the traditional half time modern R&B crowd participation song style, but to have the actual concept of the song relating to evacuation procedures during a natural disaster. The chorus is telling people how to use their hands, feet, and voices to signal a helicopter from the roof of a house or building. What’s “around you” in this case is water and debris. Our friend Jillian Mayer directed the video and has come up with a lot of cool ways of illustrating the meaning of the song, while visually keeping it up-beat, like Brian did with the production of the song.”
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