pencil - The Window (Official Music Video)

pencil’s new single ’The Window’ is out NOW on Moshi Moshi, along with the brand new video directed by Luke Ainger and featuring the band LISTEN/DOWNLOAD: A pastoral blend of sweeping chords, sandy percussion, autumnal textures and wistful strings that hark back to the earthy sounds of Big Thief, Cass McCombs or even Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ - this essential convergence of styles and sounds can be found on ‘The Window’. The stream-of-consciousness lyrics, meanwhile, were inspired by an overheard conversation about the London suburb of Walthamstow, as well as the “spooky things” found while Khan was staring into a taxidermy shop. As the first song the band played in full with Inman, it’s a benchmark of the atmosphere and vibe that the group have pledged to explore. Speaking about ’The Window’, the band share, ’As soon as the first version of this song was conceived, ‘The Window’ quickly became a touchstone for how we wanted the band to sound and feel. We existed as a four-piece for a little while before Coco (violin) joined and this was the first song we played together at our first rehearsal in early 2022 - in that moment pencil was born. The words in this song are drawn from overheard conversations, banal soundbites, subconscious admissions and haunted strolls in the metropolitan winter. We produced it ourselves, using what started as a live demo and gradually decorated it over time.’ On the video, director Luke Ainger says, “After ’The Giant’, we wanted to make something more energetic and colourful. I wanted to try and experiement with how you could convey a sense of playfulness on screen. My work in a celluloid film lab means that i get to play around with the medium more than others might be able to. So i really enjoyed mucking around with 16mm and its different qualities. All of the effects in the video were made physically, by cutting into the film or scratching onto it, frame by frame. I didn’t really know how any of it would turn out, so there is a lot of experimentation. But i quite like the chaotic and unpredictable look that it created. It only occured to me after making the video what a lot of it looks like, a window drawn by a pencil…“ CREDITS Director: Luke Ainger DoP: Sam Donvito Camera Assistant: Callum Lindsay Lab: On8mil With thanks to: Four Corners, Feral Equipment, John Humphries, Chloe Boston and Zeus the Dog.