Watch: Flamingods - "Vimana" [Premiere]

There’s a fine line between being utterly unique and coming across a bit contrived. Fortunately, Flamingods are able to walk it expertly. This point may be obvious when you’re talking about a fairly new band who are largely unheard of (to the wider public, at least) but they’ve been able to win some pretty key supporters including French Vogue.

That’s always been the paradox of Flamingods; they’ve often played by their own rules while carrying a history as interesting as their music (for instance, band member Kamal was forced to leave the UK due to visa reasons). Rather than that being an understandable end to the band, the group managed to record new album Hyperborea by exchanging files across continents.

The result is a surreal and hypnotic listen. Mixing bizarre tribal influences with a synth line that sounds like it was picked straight out of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, “Vimana” is a rewarding and almost enchanting cut of bizarre indie rock. It’s no surprise then that the accompanying video, directed by Niall Trask, fits perfectly by showcasing the band in ritualistic form traversing through Camden by punt.

Director Niall Trask said: “I had access to a traditional Cambridge punt which I’d been working on for years between film endeavours, and wanted to put the pirate-like Flamingods in it and shoot a performance. Somehow it took around 5 months before we actually got around to shooting, by which point Kamal had to leave the UK. My solution (for the video, not his Visa issues!) was to put a green screen on the boat and place Kamal’s floating head on the boat, sort of like the big face from Power Rangers.

“So, in freezing December, still spaced out after a day or two after I’d spent 2 weeks in quarantine on a medical trial I met the UK-based segment of the band in Camden, with dry ice and various objects to film with. In the cafe next to us, smiling and watching, was local resident Tim Burton (seriously), with my housemate punting us along, we quickly left Camden (to avoid any awful indie band video cliches) and headed West on the boat until sunset. I approached post-production like a child, first coming to terms with After Effects.”

Hyperborea is released on 21 July via Shape Records.​

Live:
4 July - De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam
5 July - Roodkapje, Rotterdam
11 July - 60 Million Postcards, Bournemouth
23 July - Pescara, Italy 24 Jul - Radar Festival, Italy
27 July - Milhoes de Fest, Portugal
30 July - Het Bos, Antwerp
1 August - Knee Deep Festival
6 August - Nation of Shopkeepers, Leeds
7 August - Sticky Mikes, Brighton
8 August - Lexington, London
9 August - Supernormal Festival, Oxfordshire
13 August - Birdcage, Bristol
14 August - Oakford Social, Reading
20 August - Kraak Gallery, Manchester
21 August - 13 August - Note, Glasgow
22 August - Doune The Rabbit Hole Festival
28 August - Four Bars, Cardiff
30 August - Raw Power Festival, London