Marrow almost didn't need to make a video for its latest single, "The Gold Standard." The quartet, which features three former members of Kids These Days, makes indie rock cinematic enough that adding images could border on sensory overload. But sensory overload is exactly the point of the Jake Saner-directed clip we're premiering here. A dramatic story of rescue, codependency, nostalgia, claustrophobia and escape unfolds over the course of its nearly seven minutes. The vocals, by Macie Stewart and Liam Kazar, float ethereally in the background, while Lane Beckstrom and Matt Carroll's building-then-crashing instrumentation matches the tense unfolding narrative through its crescendo.
Saner told NPR Music that his vision for "The Gold Standard" was the interplay between "two lost souls, feeding off one another." The way Stewart and Kazar's vocals chase each other from gentle harmony into cathartic yell, is a sonic blueprint for the drama onscreen, which is brought to life through stunningly evocative choreography performed by Ashley Robicheaux and Travis Albano. It's an appropriately overwhelming video for a song about forces stronger and darker than love tearing people apart.
Marrow's LP The Gold Standard is out now on Foxhall Records.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.