LVL UP Share Solitary “Blur” Video Ahead of Their First European Headlining Tour

New York indie-rock outfit LVL UP have shared the video for “Blur,” the second song from their deservedly acclaimed Sub Pop debut Return To Love. Now’s as good a time as any: The band is about to embark on their first tour of the U.K. and mainland Europe, culminating in a performance at Barcelona’s massive Primavera Sound festival in June.

The video, directed by Ryan Schnackenberg and lensed by Adam Kolodny, follows guitarist and vocalist Mike Caridi as he rides a vintage motorcycle; shops at a grocery store; throws a one-man house party; and goes hunting (for trophies) in a snowy forest. The clip, shot at Caridi’s parents’ house and a few of his teenage hangouts, evokes both solitude and yearning—Caridi is all but the only human being who appears in it, yet he never stops moving, as if he’s searching urgently for something, even if he doesn’t know what.

“We drew inspiration from films like Badlands, Buffalo 66 and Gummo,” Caridi told NME. “Similar lonely characters had been written into many collaborative short films, or story ideas between Ryan and I throughout college, always with different motives, but each as lonely as the last. The character in ‘Blur’ is a person who despite his demeanors, is living in loneliness and nostalgia.”

“I have a very distinct memory of being squirreled away in a corner at a party with Mike talking about video ideas, and he brought up the idea of a character doing burnouts in an empty lot,” explained Schnackenberg. “I thought that was a hilarious but depressing visual, that said so much to me about this character’s inner life, and we jumped off from there.”