In just under a week’s time, Bordeaux heavy psych rollers Mars Red Sky will make a return trip to South America for shows in Argentina and Brazil. The latter, of course, is where they wound up recording their second album and Listenable Records debut, Stranded in Arcadia (review here), after their original plan to track in the California desert was scrapped by US customs in what I’ve since considered an embarrassing international incident caused by the ignorance of my countrymen to quality fuzz. No doubt somebody went home that day and thought they’d done a good job. Wrong-o, chief.

Those issues are easy enough to put aside because Stranded in Arcadia, which was recorded at Estúdio Superfuzz by Gabriel Zander, turned out so well. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Julien Pras, bassist Jimmy Kinast and drummer Matgaz crafted not only a progressive step froward from their 2011 self-titled debut (review here), but a highly individualized blend of sonic weight and psychedelia, the melodies, the riffs and heft all their own. It was a gorgeous record, whatever the circumstances of its making, and even as they’ve recently announced intentions toward a third album, they’re still supporting Stranded in Arcadia both on the road — that stopover in South America will be followed by another European tour — and with a new video, this one for the opening cut “The Light Beyond.”

It’s one of the most singularly gorgeous tracks on Stranded in Arcadia and the video is their most elaborate production to date. They’re known for sort of compiling clips through manipulated footage, maybe blending live shots with old movie clips and things like that, but “The Light Beyond” is a more traditional music video approach, the band staged on a sandbar as a giant manta ray made of shadow flies over head and a mysterious shaman wanders the desert. Fun note: From what I hear, the drone used for filming the band actually crashed in that lake. Hazards of working with robots, I guess.

As always, hope you enjoy:

Mars Red Sky, “The Light Beyond” official video

Taken from 2014’s critically acclaimed ‘Stranded In Arcadia’ album, the gallic power trio rockers stay true to their roots. Shot on location in France and Australia, ‘The Light Beyond’ features downtuned fuzzed up guitars, blues soaked doom laden riffage, wandering shaman, flying manta rays and deserts as far as the eye can see. 

The band will be off for a their « Soviet Attack tour » in South America next week, which will be quickly followed by a full European tour, including a special guest slot in London with Eyehategod at Desertscene Festival, among other nice events this summer:

26.05 BUENOS AIRES (Ar) Uniclub
27.05 PORTO ALLEGRE (Br) Signos Pub
28.05 SANTA MARIA (Br) Boteco do Rosário
29.05 PETROPOLIS (Br) Gypsy Bar
30.05 RIO DE JANEIRO (Br) Rio Rock & Blues
31.05 SAO PAULO (Br) Inferno Club
25.06 CARDIFF (UK) Moon Club
26.06 MILTON KEYNES (UK) Crauford Arms
27.06 LONDON (UK) The Dome (w/ Eyehategod)
28.06 PARIS – Deep #2 – Péniche Antipode
03.07 BRESCIA (It) Somen Fest
04.07 JESI (It) Field Fest
05.07 ROMA (It) Sinister Noise
17.07 MIRAMONT DE GUYENNE (47) Abracada’Sons
18.07 DOUR (Bel) Dour Festival
19.07 NIJMEGEN (NL) Valkhof Festival
29.07 KIEV (Ukr) Open Air
14.08 SAINT NOLFF (56) Motocultor Festival
15.08 VERDUN (55) Musiques & Terrasses
29.08 THONES (74) Backwoods Festival
25.09 SAINT PETERSBURG (RU) Zoccolo 2.0
26.09 MOSCOW (RU) Depressive Fest – Volta

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Listenable Records

Tags: Bordeaux, France, Listenable Records, Mars Red Sky, Mars Red Sky Stranded in Arcadia, Stranded in Arcadia

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2015 at 9:17 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.