Sophia Michaels
Machinegum, the band-artist collective fronted by Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, has shared a new video for “Kubes,” a song off of the group’s debut album, Conduit.
Actor Justin Bartha (of The Hangover series and The Good Fight) directed the clip, which compiles videos sent in by people around the world going through a very specific daily routine based on instructions posted on the Machinegum website back in February. Interspersed with footage of Ian Devaney singing the dreamy synth-pop track, the video follows this disparate but interconnected group as they wake up, brush their teeth, use lipstick to draw a circle around one eye, use chalk to draw a cube on the sidewalk, chew bubblegum, grab their headphones and venture outside to dance.
Despite the crowd-sourced/DIY nature of the video, it was actually conceived and filmed before the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone to practice social distancing. As Moretti said in a statement, the goal of the video was to “reproduce universal commonalities and thread a story of harmony between apparent strangers.” He continued: “Sadly, the idea is more relative now than when first conceived, but hopefully a new perspective can be adopted. Perhaps this video can celebrate the beauty that comes from perseverance, community, and new forms interactivity.”
Along with Moretti, the core of Machinegum includes Devaney and Martin Bonventre. Machinegum released their debut album, Conduit, last year, though French Kiss Records is set to release a vinyl version of the LP on July 17th. The Strokes, meanwhile, dropped their most recent LP, The New Abnormal, in April.
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