After Yeasayer called it quits, co-leader Anand Wilder went solo with 2022’s I Don’t Know My Words, and he since also released a score for the film Cannibalizing The Conductor and covered The New Pornographers. Now, he’s back with a proper new single, “Appointment in Samarra.” This one’s less folky than I Don’t Know My Words and more overtly psychedelic, and it comes with a video directed by Jordan Fish (MGMT, Charlift, etc) that’s as hallucinatory as the song itself.
The song title comes from an ancient Mesopotamian tale that was recited by Boris Karloff’s Byron Orlok character in Peter Bogdanovich’s 1968 film Targets, and a press release notes that “the story, about an inevitable confrontation with death, is used here as an allegory of music business dynamics — ‘hanging on for dear life’ amidst the careening and careerism.” About the video, Anand says:
The Jordan Fish-directed music video for “Appointment in Samarra” takes inspiration from the mirrored Mylar optical effects in Frankenheimer’s rebirth parable Seconds (1966), and documents a Road-trip from the valley to the mountaintop, where I guide my acolytes (producers Jachary and Walter Fancourt) to a summit performance of the song. I wanted to push the limits of cultural appropriation, and see if we could drag a harmonium and instruments to the top of a mountain like Fitzcarraldo pulling the ship over the mountain to bring opera to the Amazon.
Jordan adds:
It’s kind of like a welcome video to a mountain rehabilitation center, “Sing to the Trees!!” is the motto, part sweatshop, part outward bound, where you spend the day gossiping and diligently crafting these Coachella nature children spring bacchanal crowns, but we never wear them, we just make them, can’t even sell them (because of tariffs). And besides, crowns glued with honey will attract insects.
I’ve been a huge fan of Anand’s music since the early days, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have finally had the chance to work together on a music video. It was rad to shoot something with so much creative freedom and camaraderie, with Zach and Walter joining the festive fray. We brought the mylar to the mountain and vice versa. Special shout out to Honest Labor for the amazing work on the color grade.
The video premieres in this post and you can check it out right here…