Meanwhile In Bat Country are here to show off the visual brilliance that is the music video for The Smoke That Thunders. Bloody hell. Nothing I will ever write again will be as epic sounding as that sentence. I am just going to savour this for a few seconds. I delete it, then write it again. Oh, the satisfaction. Sorry, but you have to admit it’s true – the band and song name sound like chapters in a really intense book or Quentin Tarantino film.
I really should do my job (I’m already on my second written warning) and tell you all about The Smoke That Thunders and it’s accompanying video, so here we go. It’s difficult to describe it as a music video – it’s more of an eight-minute epic, more akin to a short film. It’s trippy; with old school footage that reminds me immediately of that time I watched The Wizard Of Oz with Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon playing over it. And yes, it does work. The video is all in reverse too; a fact that took me longer to realise than I would have liked, but then the song itself demands attention and reflection in such measures that a quarantined, pea-brained dummy such as myself cannot possibly engage in all fronts.
The tune is so chilled that when it picks up around three minutes in, it throws your emotions about all over the place like a stuffed animal at a kids birthday party. I’m going to ring my mum and tell her I love her, then immediately change my tune and say I resent her being so overbearing all these years. Sorry, mum; those boys in Meanwhile In Bat Country are making me feel all kinds of things. It’s like Bohemian Rhapsody; taking you through a highlight reel of feelings. It ends in a heartbreakingly beautiful conclusion and makes hitting the replay button an absolute necessity.
Here are a few facts for you: I’ve seen a picture of Meanwhile In Bat Country. They look like pleasant lads who, if they wanted, would be ready to beat you with their belts to get their hands on your loo roll. They edited this music video themselves (save some talent for the rest of us, please) and they recorded The Smoke That Thunders in an old cowshed with producer Graham Dominy (Robert Plant, Imelda May). Hang on a minute, that can’t be right. Nope – I checked, apparently that’s correct, his name is indeed Graham.
They also have a debut EP out later this year, Painted Crazy. Hang on – September? I can’t wait that long, surely I have the right to hear this sooner. Oh well – I’ll have to tie myself over with The Smoke That Thunders in the meantime. I won’t lie – the fact the video has a dinosaur in is an added bonus.
The Smoke That Thunders is out Friday 27th March. You can listen to and watch the music video for it here:
