Watch: “Close 2 Me” – Paper Chains
I can wait for ninety miles an hour
it’s painful
when we’re apart (when we’re apart)
try to be mindful but you’re my biggest downfall
and I’m perfect (and I’m perfect)
for you
Atwood Magazine is thrilled to premiere Paper Chains’ entirely self-produced music video for “Close 2 Me” off their debut EP, Stereo Diamonds. Eight-bit visuals spliced against the spectral image of singer Stereo Diamonds herself provide for an audiovisual romp that’s sure to leave a viewer awestruck. Everything here serves a purpose: bright colors, jittery cuts, and a retro-futuristic motif embrace their own visual staccato, the neon-saccharine lyrics floating along above them like they’re dancing a waltz together.
Why why why
Learn to fly?
You know that you can be with me
see what you want to see
Want you close to me
Close to my heart
Like a chain never take you off
Want you close to me
The bouncing, plucky hits of producer and guitarist Jonny on the Rocks – characteristic of his style – bring to the track an industrial, trance-dosed flare that gives the otherwise minimalistic song some grounding. Vaguely avant-garde, defiant, yet grounded in musical reality. This is what makes Paper Chains special, and it’s this combination that draws them up as contemporaries with such prolific names as Grimes and Chvrches and lends them endless potential for growth and further experimentation.
The video for “Close 2 Me” is “an experiment in detaching from the real world,” says vocalist Stereo Diamonds. “Something artificially created, bright, glossy and energetic.” Contributing something new to the musical conversation, playing around with visuals and innovating past the point of it being a gimmick. Paper Chains has achieved something truly unique here: bright, glossy and energetic. A great end to summer.
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