Futurist is an alt-rock, psychedelic pop band formed in Brooklyn and developed in Austin and Los Angeles. Futurist creates a wall of sound that ignites audiences with their style and modern mythology, through experimentation, a multimedia vision, and energetic delivery. Futurist is influenced by legends like Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd, Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, and Spoon. The band is known for its associations with folklore and psychedelia, with elements of this culture inspiring the group's instrumentation, effects, and composition. Futurist’s new album “Omens” is out now and available on all major streaming platforms.
Filled with colorful, metaphorical brilliance, the new music video for “Bad Air, Still Water” is packed with relatable, easy to grasp, content. It captures the overall concept of the songs meaning perfectly while keeping the imagery exciting, you won’t want to take your eyes away. The 'main character’ (in this case a purple puppet), deals with life’s struggles such as being fired, getting a ticket, or being dumped, and slowly succumbs to a self-deprecating feeling of failure. The main message of “Bad Air, Still Water” is to overlook the things we can’t control in our lives and not let them take over your mind. We all strive to be who we think we need to be, rather than letting life take its course. A beautiful video to match a beautiful concept! An amazing job well done for Futurist once again!
Welcome back, Futurist! How have things been going since the release of “Omens”?
Hello again and thank you! It’s been a little over a month since we released the record and we’re definitely some plays, so that’s good. It’s hard to judge the real feedback until we start playing shows again, but we have these two music videos we are releasing before the end of the year and, if anyone is interested in getting a free CD of the new record, we’re mailing them out until the end of the year (link). Other than that, I’ve been working and planning for what’s next.
Your song “Bad Air, Still Water” is so beautiful! Tell us about the sentiments behind the lyrics. What the significance of the title with the main theme of the song?
Thanks. “Bad Air, Still Water” is a song about the weight of it all and the title is a reference to stagnation - the air is bad so I want to clear it and the water is still so I want to move it. “Don’t pay any mind to the cynical. They don’t know any better” is the chorus. What can I do in those moments where I've fallen down at the feed of my higher self and am dealing with the disparity between how I thought things would go and what actually happened…and not succumbing completely to hopelessness. I think the tune is best summarized through the questions posed at the end of the song. “Is there no escape? Am I enslaved to this feeling? I mean am I even helping? Could you just in case, hold me responsible?”
The new music video had us captivated start to finish! It’s spectacular yet holds a heavier meaning behind it. What was the overall concept and vision you had for this video?
Thanks, I made it (www.avalancheartists.com)! I had this general concept of this guy having the worst day imaginable. All of the characters in the story are sort of archetypical placeholders for the forces we contend with day to day: The cop is an authority. The politician is the law. The news anchor is the media. The boss is our work responsibilities. The advertising men are the commercial information we’re exposed to. And the girlfriend is a modern romance. Essentially the main character, Blue, takes the bullet from all of these forces at once and has a bit of an existential breakdown via the animated sequence. The end is intentionally ambiguous because I think it all comes down to you.
Do you feel that your music is an accurate depiction of who you are as a group? Do you feel ultimately connected to your listeners through your music?
Absolutely. This music is us, although I would certainly say that I feel most connected through the live show. We have a long way to go in that regard, so I think my sincerest hope is that this new record can help us lay the groundwork to connect better and with more listeners.
It was such a pleasure to have you and we can’t wait to hear more! Can you give us any hints to what we can expect from you going into 2020?
As I was saying, we want to play these new tunes for you live. You can visit www.futuristnow.net to stay up to date with our upcoming shows. We’re going to be playing a lot in 2020. We’re also deep into recording our next record and we’ll also have a few other new music videos down the road. Follow us on Spotify to stay up to date with our newest releases and thanks again for sharing our new music video.