The English band The Go! Team loves to override the senses with rich samples, guest vocalists and blasts of horns. So it stands to reason that the group's new video — for "Semicircle Song," from an album called Semi-Circle that's due out in January — is a psychedelic wash of bright colors and marching bands, to accompany footage (and charming guest vocals) from members of the Detroit Youth Choir.
In crafting Semi-Circle, bandleader Ian Parton gathered samples across the Midwest, with an emphasis on capturing the voices of young musicians. Along the way, he also reassembled the lineup of The Go! Team responsible for 2005's breakthrough, Thunder, Lightning, Strike — a move that translates into a brash and joyful mix.
"We were looking to make something that takes the marching-band feel of the song and puts it through a kaleidoscope," Parton writes via email. "Something trippy and Technicolor, making geometry out of everyday patterns. I found this marching band in Jacksonville who had the best bright purple-and-red costumes, and we arranged to film with them just a week before the floods hit. The vocals for 'Semicircle Song' were recorded in Detroit with a bunch of teenagers who we were filming as they were singing, so the footage in the video were the actual takes that made it onto the record."
Semi-Circle tracklist:
"Mayday"
"Chain Link Fence"
"Semicircle Song"
"Hey!"
"The Answer's No — Now What's the Question?"
"Chico's Radical Decade
"All the Way Live"
"If There's One Thing You Should Know"
"Tangerine / Satsuma / Clementine"
"She's Got Guns"
"Plans Are Like a Dream U Organise"
"Getting Back Up"
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