The Avalanches Tap Rivers Cuomo and Pink Siifu for "Running Red Lights"
Paying tribute to the late David Berman.
Following their first output in over four years with the Blood Orange-featuring “We Will Always Love You”, Australian duo The Avalanches (comprised of Tony Di Blasi and Robbie Chater) return with a new music video for “Running Red Lights,” a collaboration between legendary Weezer lead vocalist Rivers Cuomo and rising LA-based rapper by way of Alabama Pink Siifu.
“We Will Always Love You” managed to utilize a Smokey Robinson sample paired with the Roches while “Running Red Lights” harkens back to Purple Mountains’ “Darkness and Cold” with Pink Siifu channeling the late David Berman.
“”Running Red Lights” didn’t start out as a defining moment; “a single” as it were. But Rivers responded to our fuzzed-out Spacemen 3 inspired jam with such open heartedness, that we soon dropped all pretense and got down to the heart of the matter… loss,” The Avalanches’ Robbie Chater said of the track. “The way life is so beautiful and overwhelming and heartbreaking all at the same time. Rivers, like us, is always chasing the melancholy, that space…between the notes.”
The music video was made in honor of the memory of indie-rocker, singer-songwriter and poet David Berman who had previously collaborated on two songs with the band in “A Cowboy Overflow of the Heart” and “Saturday Night Inside Out.” The visual follows Erik Cavanaugh, one of “America’s Got Talent”‘s most memorable performers from the show’s 2016 season, dancing through Hollywood streets, struggling in high heels after visiting a psychic.
Three-time Emmy nominated director Greg Brunkalla said, “This was the second video I did with The Avalanches, but the first time I actually met Robbie and Tony in person. For “Running Red Lights” they asked if I could include a few key elements–like neon, a psychic and have it take place in LA. Oh and they wanted a little heartbreak, a theme that also ran through [the group's previous song] “Because I’m Me.” I had a great time collaborating with them in LA.”
Watch The Avalanche’s latest offering and stay tuned for more news regarding the band’s upcoming full-length project. In more music news, Ariel Pink has shared a new music video for “Alisa” ahead of the release of a new Ariel Archives Retrospective Cycle 2 collection.
