If, for some, the world is viewed through rose-colored glasses, and we’re speaking literally here, then for Chicago duo Earring, it’s viewed through rose-colored kaleidoscopes. Their video for “Pure Pleasure,” just off this year’s Fire Talk debut Tunn Star, is like stepping into a blissfully obscured haze, the lackadaisical scenes of everyday life, just with a bit of added ambiguity. The visuals open in a whirlwind of duplicated, triplicated, quadruplicated shots of bedroom windows, the city skyline scenery through them, and everything one might find in between. Everything melds into and out of one another and it makes for an inviting, hypnotic trance, like staring into that snake’s eyes in The Jungle Book, only without the promise of being eaten. And that’s without the audio.
The song itself is like an extension of the video, or vice versa, playing characteristically in their lethargic fog of low-pitched cooing and sluggish guitar. Jason Balla’s vocal depth seems almost surreal, penetrating through the thick of the tone and Alexander Otake’s weighty, yet innovative drumming. Audio and video complement each other perfectly in the most pivotal moments of barely discernible action. A window fan never looked so interesting, and falling backwards onto an unmade bed never seemed so sentimental, and the camera looks to the clouds just as Balla’s voice hits its highest notes and the song seems to climax.
