Långfinger Premiere “Arctic” Video
Swedish heavy rockers Långfinger have a history of good-times-had-by-all videos, whether that’s “Say Jupiter” (posted here) from their 2016 LP, Crossyears (review here), or the prior “Fox Confessor” (posted here), or the clip for “Herbs in My Garden” from 2010. “Arctic,” premiering below, is the latest in the series of their narrative clips. The song comes from their fourth album, Pendulum (review here), which was released earlier in 2024, and pokes fun at the fact that eight years passed in between Långfinger records while the band were ostensibly still active. A kind of answer to the question one might’ve asked circa 2022: “whatever happened to Långfinger?”
But of course the truth of what happened to them is a little less Blair Witch and a little more band-doing-other-stuff. In 2019, they released Live (review here) and a split with JIRM, and guitarist/backing vocalist Kalle Lilja’s work at Welfare Sounds Studio 
and participation in outfits like Toad Venom and Wolves in Haze has been discussed here before, so I’ll spare you running through the full timeline, but the fact is Långfinger still existed, even if they weren’t doing the self-imposed album-cycle thing of writing, recording, touring, and so on, or constantly feeding the social-media algorithmic monkey on a daily basis to capture some imaginary quantification of an audience share. Would it have been nice to have another LP in the interim? Sure. Would’ve also been nice if we hadn’t all lost two years to a fucking plague. Can’t have everything, kids.
In light of that stark reality, I’ll just note that it’s worth appreciating the things one has, and in this particular context, Pendulum is all the more a thing to celebrate. Not only did it bring Långfinger back around to those ears waiting for them in the heavy underground and perhaps introduce them to a slew of those who’d come aboard in the intervening time, but it expanded the band’s stylistic palette and found them working in new ideas from a more mature point of view. Not quite “grownup” in the sense of being either boring or lacking energy in their delivery — “Arctic” testifies in contrast — but aware of who they are as players in a way that when they did Skygrounds 14 years ago they couldn’t possibly have been. That it’s still fun is a boon, of course.
If you haven’t heard Pendulum, or if you watch “Arctic” and dig both the tune and the shenanigans, the full LP stream is waiting for you at the bottom of the post. However you go, I hope you enjoy, because there’s really no point to any of this otherwise.
Dig:
Långfinger, “Arctic” video premiere
Långfinger and Aurora Alänge (director) set out to make a video based off of three very distinct things that have been notable in our latest active era.
We’re huge fans of certain 00’s horror movies (who isn’t), we love riff driven ominous rock music and we wanted to give an explanation to – with a tongue in cheek approach – our absence these past 6-7 years from the observable universe.
The idea worked really well with Arctic, which is a song that as much as it pays homage to classic 70’s and 80’s metal tracks it shows us as a band as we venture towards a sound that’s heavier than anything we’ve ever done in the past.
Taken from the album ‘Pendulum’ out now through Welfare Sounds & Records.
Directed, produced, edited and filmed by Aurora Alänge. Band photo by Aurora Alänge.
Additional band footage filmed by Carl Thorén.
Långfinger are:
Kalle Lilja – guitar/backing vocals
Victor Crusner – vocals/bass/keys
Jesper Pihl – drums
