A person in a blue jacket looks straight at the camera with a bewildered expression. Their brown-rimmed glasses are covered in small droplets of condensation.

Pretty heartbreaking video epic for Hot Chip's new single

Words: Liv Siddall
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Date: 9 April 2015; Work

Can’t think of the last time I watched a music video right through to the end without skipping. Is there some kind of term for that nowadays? A non-skipper? A skipless? Whatever. This is one of those. Shynola, the film team behind classics like Radiohead’s Pyramid Song and that famous Junior Senior video with the pixelated squirrel, have just released the new music video for Hot Chip’s comeback single, Need You Now.

Set in bleak seaside town and art student mecca Dungeness, the video follows Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor through a tale of bewildering heartbreak as he struggles to discover, and then escape from, himself. It’s cleverer than a Roald Dahl short story, and shot with more beauty, consideration and skill than all the other music videos out there put together. If you watch one music video ever again, make it this one.

A person wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a blue jacket looks upwards. They hold a small, rectangular piece of paper in both hands against a plain, pale grey sky. — Above
Hot Chip: Need You Now. Directed by Shynola

A person wearing a bright blue coat stands with their back to the camera. They look out across a vast, grey pebbled landscape under a pale, overcast sky. — Above
Hot Chip: Need You Now. Directed by Shynola

A derelict wooden boat sits beached on a grey, pebbled shore under a heavy mist. A person in a blue coat walks away from the camera along a set of narrow metal rails. — Above
Hot Chip: Need You Now. Directed by Shynola

A person wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a chunky blue knit sweater sits at a wooden table. They look down at a phone, with a white bowl resting on the table beside them. — Above
Hot Chip: Need You Now. Directed by Shynola

Two hands reach up into the frame, palms open, against a backdrop of a wet, empty road. The road stretches toward a grey horizon through a flat, desolate landscape under an overcast sky. — Above
Hot Chip: Need You Now. Directed by Shynola

Further Info

www.hotchip.co.uk
www.shynola.com

About the Author

Liv Siddall

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Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

Pretty heartbreaking video epic for Hot Chip's new single

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