OK Go are back with a new single titled “A Stone Only Rolls Downhill,” which — per tradition — was paired with another clever music video from the always inventive band.
The visual, co-directed by OK Go’s Damian Kulash and filmmaker Chris Buongiorno, uses 64 mobile phones to create a mosaic of 64 different videos, which, when combined, seamlessly create one giant image.
“Trying to balance the anxiety (which is just realism) with the hope (which is just necessary) can often feel like living in a split screen, and that’s what inspired the video. It’s the most human, DIY version of a split screen that we could come up with,” Kulash said in a statement.
“Instead of using digital wizardry to glue multiple videos together, we shot one video for each of several dozen phones and laid them out, side-by-side, as a mosaic of screens. A single image emerges from all these separate pieces working sometimes in harmony and sometimes in discord — the many contradictory parts of ourselves fighting to coalesce as a single whole.”
According to the band, the “A Stone Only Rolls Downhill” video was filmed over the course of eight days, requiring more than a thousand takes, with the final video featuring over two hours and twenty minutes of single-take clips into one frame. The band also shared a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video:
As for the song itself — the first single off OK Go’s upcoming album And the Adjacent Possible, due out later this year — Kulash said in a statement, “It’s a tough time to be optimistic. Getting through life requires some faith along the lines of the famous MLK quote: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’ But looking at the world unfurling before me, and especially before my children, it’s hard to find that kind of faith. What do we tell them? That’s what this song is about: trying to be honest but keeping your head up at the same time.”
Fans of OK Go will have an opportunity to see the band IRL starting this April when the band embarks on a 14-date tour.
April 24 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom
April 25 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
April 26 – Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre
April 27 – Cleveland, OH – The Agora
May 14 – San Diego, CA – The Sound
May 16 – Los Angeles, CA – The Bellwether
May 18 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
May 28 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
May 30 – Boston, MA – Royale
May 31 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
June 1 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
June 19 – Portland, OR – McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
June 20 – Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre
June 21 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom