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Sound Tracks: “In the Na” by The Hidden Cameras
Believe it or not, music videos still exist. Sound Tracks trolls the internet to find the best and the worst of local artists’ new singles and the good, bad, or otherwise noteworthy visuals that accompany them.
Toronto indie pop exports—and our favourite “gay church folk” band to have played both the Metro porn theatre and the Bloor Street United Church—The Hidden Cameras have a brand new video out. Kind of.
Directed by vocalist/guitarist/everythingist Joel Gibb and produced with CTV’s Bravo!FACT grant, the video for “In the Na” (from their recently released EP of the same name) is more of a short film than anything. Technically, it premiered last September at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax—preceding a screening of gay zombie flick Otto; or Up With Dead People, the latest feature by Toronto director and baddest of dudes Bruce LaBruce. Then it went on to spent some time on the festival circuit, including opening night at SXSW and at Toronto’s Inside Out Film and Video Festival in the Hogtown Homos program this past May. No matter, it’s out proper now for our general consumption with its Pitchfork premiere. Pitchfork means real.
Filmed near Orono, Ont. last summer, the video sees some of our favourite Hidden Cameras hangabouts (Laura Barrett, Maggie MacDonald, Dave Meslin, etc.) led by Gibb onto a giant field where they do what any of us would do in such a sunny summer situation: play tug-of-war in business casual and spasmodically do office work. But with synchronized Thriller-esque dancing. Yeah, we don’t really know what’s going on here. But we’re pretty sure we like it.
The Hidden Cameras’ fourth full-length studio album Origin:Orphan is due out on September 22 on Arts&Crafts, with “In the Na” as its first single. Until then you can find the band being vehemently loved or hated by any local musician at any local bar of your choosing.