“What did you think would happen when you put me in unnatural space” is a challenging lyric from the latest single “Painted” from New York duo MS MR, released at the beginning of April. Surprisingly repetitive, their closest thing to commercial accessibility and a departure from their usual art-dream pop, it’s become a grower with every listen. Mainly because Lizxy Plapinger’s voice is distinctive and it has that confident crescendo-energy that’s idiosyncratic of their compositions. To help with the enthusiasm, MS MR have delivered a video for “Painted”, revolving around the aforementioned lyric and “the juxtaposition of natural and unnatural environments“.
On their official website, Plapinger and her music partner Max Hershenow described it as a mix between “1970s documentary ‘The Secret Life of Plants’, as well as Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and A Clockwork Orange“. The former inspiration is clear with the lab-coated scientists and the button-coated gadgetry, whilst in the book-based television program they studied the spiritual connections between us and our green motionless friends, MS MR’s take is about holograms of the band in a botany environment. This not entirely out-of-the-blue considering MS MR’s promotion photographs have a cvcience-fiction aura to them along the lines of The Fifth Element and Total Recall.
For older fans, the dramatic video will also be synonymous with Kate Bush’s “Experimental IV” in its special effects and its scientific study of music but far less scary and more anticlimactic. The promo is directed by Tabitha Denholm, who also created the video for Haim’s “Falling”, Jesse J’s “Masterpiece” and the teaser trailer for Florence and the Machine’s How Big How Bold How Beautiful – which like “Painted”, involved interpretative movement. “Painted” will feature on their second album How Does It Feel, which will hit record stores on July 17 and the New Yorkers are visiting London on June 10 for a live appearance at Victoria.
#Peace.Love.Painted
