Premiere: Mermaidens Share Video For 'Millennia'

Pōneke trio Mermaidens have a lot to get psyched about in the near future. The team of Gussie Larkin (also of Earth Tongue), Lily West, and Abe Hollingsworth are launching their third studio album Look Me in the Eye via Flying Nun Records in early September, the follow-up to their 2018 Taite Music Prize-nominated long player Perfect Body. They'll accompany that hugely anticipated release with an extensive tour of the UK and Europe, preceded by upcoming festival slots at Brisbane's BIGSOUND and Tāmaki Makaurau's The Others Way 2019.

We're thrilled to premiere today the new video for Mermaidens' latest single 'Millennia', directed and produced by Caity Moloney and Tom Mannion. As infectious as recent releases 'I Might Disappear' and 'You Maintain The Stain', 'Millennia' delivers an unsparing reflection on the complex relationship between contemporary digital media and personal identity. Starring bassist Lily West, who also sings 'Millennia', the pastel-toned clip serves up a visual feast of bedazzling imagery, exploring the uncomfortable implications of a life that's permanently on display. West opened up about the themes orbiting 'Millennia'...

"The video was made by Tom Mannion, Caity Moloney and their incredibly talented team. Their aim for the video is to present a dreamlike world that feels overly constructed and divorced from reality. In this world the video cycles through different personas and images this character has created for herself. Everything is on spinning platforms, and the video eventually reveals that this woman and all her masks are on display too.

Millennia is a deadpan dig at the masks we wear. I wanted us to explore the mess of feelings around that twisted meeting of media and identity and how it can create such a warped sense of reality. There’s an implication that we can’t be successful without this system, despite it not being that much good for anybody. The song is a big faker too - it's all pep and pop hooks, but it's a sad story. The title is a personal joke about feeling old at 25, it was always meant to be the temporary title as it’s not exactly subtle. But after recording, when the song turned out to be so melodramatic, it stuck."

'Look Me In The Eye' releases on Friday 6th September via Flying Nun and is available for pre-order right here.