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Together with American Songwriter and Sean Ulbs of The Eiffels, we had the pleasure of interviewing New Beat Fund over Zoom video!
West Coast-based alternative/indie trio NEW BEAT FUND have revealed plans to release a new album in spring of 2021 marking their first music since 2018’s critically acclaimed album Chillanthropy—which included two collaborative tracks alongside close friends in The Driver Era and DJ duo Two Friends. The album will be self-written and produced by the trio who run their own production company under the moniker “The Fund” out of the legendary Sound City Studio Center (Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Red Hot Chili Peppers) in Van Nuys, CA.
The band just released a striking and cinematic music video for their new single “Look What You’ve Done.” The track is an interpolation of the trio’s own original music mashed with rockers AFI’s 2000 single “The Lost Souls” featured on their fifth studio album The Art of Drowning.
“AFI are a huge inspiration to us, and somehow a piece of music we loved so much growing up has blossomed into a new musical landscape through our creative filter,” shares NEW BEAT FUND. “Not only is the song a proper homage to our musical roots, but it became the sonic template for the new material.”
The video for “Look What You’ve Done,” as seen below, was directed by South Korean film maker Dawn Suhyun Shim and filmed at various locations across Southern California. Taking inspiration from the classic film The Seventh Seal(1957), the video is a cinematic vignette experimenting with visual elements to express imperfection.
“When I first listened to the song ‘Look What You’ve Done,’ I was drawn to the inner emotional struggle,” shares Shim. “The three lifeless characters stuck in one moment draw a parallel between themselves and a mythical figure. Jeff is mounted in the water looking out to the horizon, Paul is buried in the sand gazing at the sky and Shelby is stuck in his own reflection.
“The first reference I brought to the artist was the iconic opening scene from ‘The Seventh Seal,’” Shim continues. “The knight is on the beach playing chess by himself when Death appears to inform him he is to die. Trying to outsmart Death, he challenges him to a game of chess. Like Death confronting the knight, the mythical figure in the video confronts the three lifeless characters, but in a curious way. The mythical figure feels great sympathy and releases them by connecting them.”
“In a chess game, pieces must keep moving. Similarly, life keeps moving whether you are feeling stuck. To emphasize that feeling, we experimented with an in-camera shutter effect. The motion blur aids in both the illusion of time and the feeling of isolation. When we see someone looking at their own reflection, we interpret that a person’s soul is contained in their reflection. The mirror expresses a feeling of ambiguity, when one finds his reflection it’s revealed as more of a distortion.”
NEW BEAT FUND consists of guitarist/lead vocalist Jeff Laliberté, bassist/DJ Paul Laliberté and guitarist Shelby Archer. Their debut album Sponge Fingerz was released in 2015 via Red Bull Records and was co-produced with Matt Wallace (Faith No More, Maroon 5) and mixed by Tony Hoffer (Beck, Angels & Airwaves). Following its release, the band was seen on tour with acts including Blink 182, AWOLNATION and Dirty Heads in addition to appearing at several major U.S. festivals. national radio airplay, worldwide playlists, and major festivals across the US.
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