Colin Read marks the transition between lockdown and a more open world, in the ambitious video for Heat Waves. 

Starting out as a multi-camera perspective of vocalist Dave Bayley - as he drags a bunch of TV's down a London street - the visual ends with a bittersweet performance, with the other band members trapped in the monitors. 

Interweaving mobile phone footage - the production enlisted the involvement of the residents of a street in Hackney to make the video - and broadcast-quality cameras, this is a comment on an extraordinary time, and takes a hesitant step towards a "new normal", shaking off the lockdown aesthetic and building towards a multi-format style visual. 

COLIN READ: 

It was fun enlisting the residents of an entire street as my camera team.

"Directing remotely from across an ocean comes with some fresh challenges, but the team all did an incredible job with our unique workflow, and production went off pretty seamlessly despite having to stick to a restricted crew size and a socially-distanced shooting process.

"It was fun enlisting the residents of an entire street as my camera team. Even though we only had the ability to shoot a very limited amount of takes, I wasn’t worried about getting enough coverage - we had the angles from an entire block’s worth of windows to work with! I think it captured the mood of the specific time in which this was shot, when everyone was walled off, looking out their windows for anything new to look at…

"The video is an inspection of the current state and future of music. With the stroll down the street between the people at their windows, I wanted to create a unique way for the artist to perform live for some fans and interact with them, in the midst of the Covid crisis; with the band members trapped in the TVs, a lonely representation of how musicians are managing to connect and create together remotely; and finally, end on an image of the uncertain future of music venues, in the wake of indefinite closures. It’s a bittersweet time.

"Huge thanks to the Pulse and the whole team for helping wrangle this strange type of production. And thanks to Glass Animals, once again they were a blast to work with."