Cloud Nothings get dystopian in the video for ‘Up To The Surface’

Back in January, Cloud Nothings released their latest album ‘Life Without Sound’, and now they’re back with a sort of creepy new video for ‘Up To The Surface’.

In the clip created by AUJIK, we travel through a dystopian world where little robots made of blocks inhabit a grey city, going about their daily lives. In fact, it focuses a touch more on their extra-curricular activities, including one robot who clearly just wants to be a footballer. As a result, it straddles a grey area between being intense and gloomy and being kinda cute.

Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi said of AUJIK’s involvement: “I really liked AUJIK’s previous work (especially the Spatial Bodies videos he has on his Vimeo), so got in touch and asked him to make something along those lines for ‘Up to the Surface.’ He agreed way more heartily than I thought he would and decided to make a sort of continuation of that Spatial Bodies series, but this time with more focus on the hobbies of little blocky computer people. I think they’re cute, even though they inhabit some kind of desolate future void world”.

AUJIK says: “The video depicts a brutalist version of Kyoto and its suburbs from the perspective of a Japanese giant hornet. It sweeps through convenience stores, classrooms, Shinto temples, zen gardens and humongous brutalist structures; witnessing all sorts of human behaviours before it reach its hive. It’s a comment on the absurdity of modern life seen in a future nostalgic context., influenced by South Korean brutalist architect Lee Guō and Italian futurist Antonio Sant’Elia”.

Watch the video for ‘Up To The Surface’ below.