Canadian indie-rockers Sloan have shared their first music video in ten years, which is for their new track, “Scratch The Surface.”
“Scratch the Surface” comes from their forthcoming album, Steady, out October 21st. The accompanying video follows the band members as they make their way through different parts of the city. Patrick Pentland looks at the lights at Yonge and Dunas Square, while Jay Ferguson finds some free records in Trinity Bellwoods. Andrew Scott spends time with his dogs at home, and Chris Murphy rides the TTC. All of this comes interspersed with clips of drone footage of Toronto’s high-rises.
“We haven’t done a video per se since ‘Unkind’ from The Double Cross, which was over 10 years ago and we thought it was time we came up with some new visuals because, let’s face it, we look pretty good,” Murphy explains. “Sloan crew and friend that requires I pay him, Haris Cehajic was bringing his drown to Sloan shows and taking this great footage and I insisted we could make a cool video for ‘Scratch the Surface’ using the drone.”
Watch the video for “Scratch The Surface” below.
More on Scratch The Surface:
“The song talks about being alone in the city and I thought we could get some drone shots of buildings downtown and make up the rest on the spot a la the videos from our first record, Smeared,” Murphy adds. “I am happy to have this visual representation of Sloan in 2022. If this video doesn’t go viral, it’s the last video I’m ever making. Maybe it will go fungal. That’s my dad’s joke.”
The forthcoming album serves as Sloan’s 13th studio album to date. It’s also set for release on the 30th anniversary of their 1992 debut record, Smeared.
In addition to “Scratch The Surface,” Steady features the previously released “Spend the Day.”
“They say if you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go far go together,” frontman Chris Murphy explains. “I don’t know if there are many other bands you can name that are still making records with their original lineup 30 years in. Look it up!”
Pre-order Steady here and check out the tracklist below.
Steady Tracklist:
01 – “Magical Thinking”
02 – “Spend the Day”
03 – “She Put Up with What She Put Down”
04 – “Human Nature”
05 – “Scratch the Surface”
06 – “Panic on Runnymede”
07 – “Dream It All Over Again”
08 – “Nice Work If You Can Get It”
09 – “Simply Leaving”
10 – “Close Encounters”
11 – “I Dream of Sleep”
12 – “Keep Your Name Alive”