Animal Collective have today premiered their new music video for Applesauce from the recent album, Centipede Hz. Directed by filmmaker Gaspar Noé (“Enter The Void,” “Irreversible”), the video stars Lindsey Wixson and features elements from Paul Sharits‘ 1968 short ‘flicker’ film “N:O:T:H:I:N:G”. Sharits was a visual artist, best known for his work in “experimental” or avant-garde filmmaking.
“Applesauce” is the latest single from the band’s 10th album, Centipede Hz. The band’s first record since 2007’s Strawberry Jam to feature all four original band members, Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deakin, Centipede Hz was hailed by critics as a return to the band’s experimental roots.
Animal Collective will be on tour throughout North American this spring, and will return to Europe in May to perform at Primavera Sound, Barcelona, Spain on the 23rd and to close the main stage at Field Day, London on the 25th.
Dig Deeper?
Paul Sharits film “N:O:T:H:I:N:G” which forms the backdrop to the video was originally built as a vibration of rhythms ‘energy-colour’, based on the structure of tibetan mandala of ‘Five Dhyani Buddhas’…and for those that want to dig a bit deeper Sharits said this in a 1969 interview published in Film Culture 47:
‘I am not at all interested in the mystical symbolism of Buddhism, only in its strong, intuitively developed imagistic power. In a sense, I am more interested in the mantra because unlike the mandala and yantra forms which are full of such symbols, the mantra is often nearly pure nonsense – yet it has intense potency psychologically, aesthetically and physiologically. The mantra used upon reaching the “thig le” of the Mandala of the Five Dhyani Buddhas is the simple “Om” – a steady vibrational hum.’