The Shins have released a puzzling video to accompany their equally puzzling new album, The Worm’s Heart. Their newest album, which was released earlier this year, features songs from the 2017 album, Heartworms but in this 2018 version the songs are flipped and have a whole new sound and tone.
The film also seems flipped in a sense, as if it throws you into a whole different dimension. With a mix of 70’s filmmaking, claymation and sci-fi conspiracy theories, the video showcases select songs from the album to put together a story. The film was directed by The Shins drummer, Jon Sortland and features all the band members acting in it, along with James Mercer as the lead protagonist. With a creative twist, the video also incorporates puppets, and diorama set designs that make the film look all the more trippy.
In the story, Mercer’s character is a pilot who decides to go on a quest to find out what happened to Amelia Earhart. The film begins with Mercer watching an old documentary of Earhart’s disappearance and the connection to the Bermuda Triangle, and decides to find out if it exists. Things get as weird as you might imagine as he lands on a distant planet, runs into candy-loving space creatures and fights off clan people representing a hidden society.
The 15-minute film features select songs from the flipped album including, “Heartworms,” “Fantasy Island,” “Painting a Hole” and many others that capture the weird mood of the film as each song represents a different plot point of the film. You can watch the 15-minute film at the top of this post
