The sci-fi music video for Chllngr’s “Change” is loaded with hypnotic 2-D and 3-D animations, from the requisite 2001: A Space Odyssey monoliths to rotoscoping in honor of legendary filmmaker Ralph Bakshi.
“The loose story was a total nerd-out session,” co-director Ryan Todd told Wired.com in an e-mail. “We snuck in space battles, magic, terraforming, psychedelia, meditation, relationship drama and whatever else we had in our heads at the time.”
The kitchen-sink geek approach to making the video, premiering exclusively above, worked wonders, given the track’s space-age chill. Chllngr — aka California-born, Copenhagen-based musician Steven Borth — and the video were both inspired by dub engineering pioneers such as King Tubby and his protege Scientist.
“The one creative direction Borth gave was that he wanted something ‘galactic,’ which totally fit the music,” co-director Chad Turner told Wired.com by e-mail. “As soon as we heard the track, we started going through the radical albums from Jamaica. All the Mikey Dread and King Tubby covers were full of lasers and spaceships, and just plain funky.” Turner cited Bakshi and sci-fi anime like Robotech and Macross as other influences.
With a single recurring lyric and celestial atmosphere to spare, the “Change” video looks stellar, considering its bare plot is about, uh … how did Todd put it?
“A space guy in the universe trying to make change and create groovy things, despite his girl’s other plans.”
Chllngr’s debut full-length, Haven, dropped in July, but “Change” arrives as a free download later this month from new indie label Time No Place. Tune in and turn on to the astrodub video above and let us know in the comments section below if you dropped out of orbit.