A shuffling snare and buoyant electric keyboard riff make Beirut’s “Perth” a perfect song to dance to, and dance is exactly what LA artist Maceo Paisley does in the band’s new video.
In a split-screen reminiscent of Woodstock, director Clara Aranovich creates a double image of a grooving Paisley getting down on a beach and mountainscape. Aranovich doesn’t delegate the picturesque scenery, filmed in Yosemite and Santa Monica, to background noise, but also fills the video with postcard-worthy shots of nature.
“Nature is a somewhat like a church to me; a place of reverence that is deeply democratic in that it belongs to both everyone and no one,” Aranovich said in a statement. “These places are as beautiful as they are a neutral canvas, as real as they are surreal.”
“Perth” is on Beirut’s most recent album No No No, which was featured on our “50 Best Albums of 2015” list. Watch the video above.