Mystery weed jars and flying AirPods collide in this trippy visual rollercoaster.
Sydney based prog-electronica trio MCP (Master Control Project) just premiered a brand new music video for their latest single, ‘The Nothing’.
Created by Arron Millikin, the film clip is a trippy rollercoaster through psychedelic reinterpretations of classic music tech, featuring a CD player starship enterprise launching AirPod space fighters to siege a shrine to the amplifier that rests atop a giant speaker.
MCP has always chased the sound of cinematic retrofuturism, inspired by the likes of Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War of the Worlds, and their new video matches that aesthetic perfectly.
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The idea was originally conceived by a chance run-in with a conspicuous jar of “free weed” in the back alleys of Sydney’s Newtown. The sheer strangeness of the discovery inspired the band’s direction for the video. Surely the jar isn’t what it says it is? What if it was something else?
“As soon as we saw the jar, and realized what it was, we immediately started thinking about how the hell we can turn this into a music video. About a month later Arron molded the ideas into an animation and the end result is the video for ‘The Nothing’,” explains MCP synth player, James McKenna.
That “end result” leads to the amusing recreation of the weed jar discovery that opens the clip, sending “Big Von (AKA Major Asshole)” into the world of the jar and the trippy visuals that saturate every corner of the ensuing film.
The track has a melancholic tone, underpinned with an almost hip hop style beat and arpeggiated synths that filter in and out. It meanders, but not without intention as momentum slowly builds.
The camera seems to match this, beginning with long lingering takes before increasing the number of cuts as the track ramps up, giving them a great sense of pace. The music video is broken up into three acts, neatly aligning with the distinct sections of the track.
According to MCP, the sense of longing and loneliness in the track was directly inspired by feelings during the height of the pandemic, which is captured wonderfully with the droning pads and spacy guitar.
MCP is currently deep in production on two more singles that they plan to release in a ‘sextuplet’ limited release record alongside their four current singles.
Watch the film clip for ‘The Nothing’ below.
Check out MCP on Spotify and head on over to their Instagram to keep up with their new music.
