Bastille have shared the official video for their latest single, “Thelma + Louise”. The cinematic video was directed by Balázs Simon and combines ground-breaking animation with live action shots filmed in Serbia. You can check it out below.
The “Thelma + Louise” video is a continuation of the storyline from Bastille’s previously released video for “Distorted Light Beam”, and again features British actress Remmie Milner from the BAFTA-winning series, Save Me, who joins front man Dan Smith. Together, they escape their reality and journey into their own innerverse for a more hopeful future, and it continues to tell the story of Future Inc. and “Futurescape” technology, teasing at what’s to come from Bastille’s forthcoming new album.
Of the video, Dan says, “This video’s been a massive, international collective effort. We’ve been so lucky to work with Balázs and his team of digital animators, who are based in Austria. They did such an incredible job of creating this version of the innerverse. The live action scenes were shot at the end of an all night shoot as the sun was coming up in Serbia a few months ago with the brilliant team who made our ‘Distorted Light Beam’ video.”
He continues, “The four of us in Bastille and Remmie had our heads and bodies scanned to make the digital avatars that you see. We’re massively excited for people to watch this mad little 2 minute film that takes you right into how the innerverse could work. It totally captures the sense of escape and endless possibility.”
Co-written with legendary songwriter Rami Yacoub (Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time”, Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Album) and Mark Crew, “Thelma + Louise” is an infectious meditation on “days like these” where you want to just get away, whether that’s simply shutting your eyes and imagining yourself somewhere else or driving down to Mexico and leaping off the edge of the world. The song cleverly taps into the dichotomy at the heart of the 1991 classic film, where freedom and living in the moment are tempered by the threat of cold, hard reality intervening at any moment. The band gave an electrifying performance of the track on GMA3 yesterday afternoon.
Bastille’s previously released single, “Distorted Light Beam,” continues to climb up the Alternative Radio Chart and currently nears the Top 10. In support of the track, the band recently performed the song for Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series.
Escapism is a theme that’s explored in depth on Bastille’s upcoming record, especially in connection with technology—in this case under the watchful gaze of Future Inc., a data-hungry, fake big tech enterprise from the future (that may or may not bear some resemblance to big tech enterprises in the present). The company’s innovative “Futurescape” technology is offering infinite possibilities of a new kind—the chance to journey in to your own innerverse.
Listen to the best of Bastille on Apple Music and Spotify.