Grizzly Bear may be alternative rock royalty, back with a new record after a very long absence, but Beatrice Pegard's approach to the plaintive Mourning Sound is counterintuitively irreverent, bordering on wacky.

The scenario plays out around an emotional bride played by Clémence Poesy, in a grand French chateaux, surrounded by a chorus of joyful women, and a couple of naked men whose buttocks get regularly slapped. The band have described it as "a playful, pastel-drenched commentary on women's liberation." In other words, it's wacky.

BEATRICE PEGARD:

"We often talk about dystopian futures. But aren't present times actually dystopian?
Mourning Sound is an ode to womens’ rights through the interplay of time, space and light. We transposed Grizzly Bear’s nostalgic song about grieving to wider relationships with society and with the world by following women from all ages and backgrounds in various environments, getting together with a little bit of magic.

"Mourning Sound’s video concept stems from Leonard Cohen’s famous quote: 'Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in'. It is about finding freedom and keeping it by becoming and staying united. It is a message for people who are going through hardships, who have been told that they can’t, that they are too different, that they are not good enough, that there is no more hope.

"Mourning Sound’s video also carries a message for women to know that whatever happens, they will never be alone, that there is a sister out there secretly rooting for them, and that they have power and freedom within that no one will ever be able to take away from them. When things are tough and feel hopeless, there will always be someone out there thinking of you, fighting for you and believing in you.

"Nobody, under any circumstance, will ever be able to take the power of love and unison that we all carry intrinsically."