Twin Shadow on His Moody 'Bombs Away' Video
Music

Twin Shadow on His Moody 'Bombs Away' Video

Caer, Twin Shadow's latest studio offering following 2015's Eclipse, is an exploration of what it means to get back up after a fall. 35-year-old George Lewis Jr (aka Twin Shadow) became famous in the early 2010s for his 80s influenced sound, precipitating a move toward increased use of guitar and synths across pop radio today, but a tour bus crash in 2015 that left twelve people hospitalized led the artist to deeper introspection.

"Bombs Away," the final track off Caer, brings to mind a moody walk on a misty beach at night. The spoken word verses build up a tense pressure relieved by Lewis' soaring vocals on the chorus. "It's a staring out the window song," Lewis told PAPER, adding that the lyrics nod to "how temporary everything is," including and especially relationships. "I was experiencing a new relationship that helped me get over a breakup, and I was just feeling very grateful for that authentic, powerful, new love feeling."

Related | Rainsford Is the Minimalist 'Weirdo-Pop Star' of Your Dreams

The video features a montage of Lewis and his friends, including upcoming singer Rainsford, riding motorbikes and dancing around Los Angeles where the artist lives. "A lot of artists like to make a mini movie" for their videos, Lewis said, explaining that while he's happy to make his videos as cinematic as possible, for this treatment he really just wanted the music to speak for itself. "A lot of people lean toward using violence as a crutch," he said of recent videos. "It's become oversaturated and lost any power it once had. I like making portraits of my friends. It's something I genuinely understand—the people I care about. Like, 'Let's just have a very natural day with my friends be the background to the music.'"

The focus on other people in the video also springs from Lewis' conscious desire to center his own image less. "I'm being more careful with how I portrait myself," he said. "I don't demonize bravado, but I've been looking to the female artists around me especially and putting myself in less."

Stream Caer here and watch the "Bombs Away" video premiere below: