Exclusive: Chicago Art Rockers Cafe Racer Share New “Faces” Video

Chicago experimental five-piece Cafe Racer are set to release their new album Shadow Talk on May 8 via Born Yesterday Records. Today, Paste is premiering the video for their new single “Faces,” which you can watch below. We’ve heard three tracks from Shadow Talk so far: “Faces,” “Russian Blue” and “Zenith.” The album follows their 2018 LP Famous Dust.

“Faces” is led by immensely blustery vocal distortion and anchored with a steady, blissfully lulling beat. Then come the frenzied guitar whooshes, cutting through the monochromatic, meditative grooves and injecting radiant chaos. It’s both a graceful, psychedelic retreat and a hyperaware paradox of art rock sounds.

This Zach Harris-filmed, black-and-white video stars co-lead vocalist and guitarist Michael Santana. It follows Santana as he solemnly makes his way through town to a graveyard—though we’re not sure if he’s there to visit anyone in particular. Suddenly, the camera cuts to two figures dancing expressively and longingly in a dark room, and as soon as we’re reacquainted with Santana, he arises from a bench and begins a similar interpretive dance. Images of these two scenes are then superimposed, resulting in an artful, emotional surge. Were these dancers someone that he knew and have since passed away? Is Santana hallucinating these images in the snowy cemetery where he’s perched? Or do they simply represent the dramatic tides in Santana’s mind?

Watch the video for “Faces” below, and preorder Shadow Talk here.