South Carolina's self-described "cry dance" duo We Roll Like Madmen have reemerged with new single "You Thought You," a jarring, beat-driven track accompanied by a beautifully eerie paper animation music video created by puppeteer Lyon Hill.
"You Thought You" finds the Madmen at their most imaginative and existentialist, with Jordan Young's soft croons of "When you're left alone / What is there?" soaring thoughtfully over Chris Tollack's alternately soothing and jolting soundscapes as the colorful fairy tale visuals depict a young boy stumbling upon much more than he bargained for on an innocent night of camping.
Young told Transverso,
“This project was conceived about a year ago when we were approached about collaborating with the Spork in Hand Puppet Slam, an amazing event that brings together a ton of incredible puppeteers from across the Southeast. Lyon Hill, one of the core organizers, is a literal puppet master—he made every figure, puppet, and background in the video by hand, and all of the movement and effects were performed physically. The song and visual weave a storybook nightmare in which civilized innocence is abandoned in chase of the unfamiliar.”
Blurring the lines between dream-state and reality, WRLM and Hill combine masterfully to give us a taste of the band's forthcoming record AF due out early next year via Post Echo. AF will follow 2014's Hermetic Vol 1. EP and The Kids Must Die, both of which can be streamed here.