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Australia’s Suburban Spell, alias Peter Endall, just premiered the new video for ‘Fools and Clowns’

13/04/202213/04/2022 Chris Relkneus

Melbourne, Australia’s Suburban Spell, alias Peter Endall, just premiered the new video for ‘Fools and Clowns’ via Post-punk.com on Monday, while releasing the song’s new ‘single edit’ to all major streaming platforms.

For fans of shoegaze, dreampop, and ethereal darkwave; ‘Fools and Clowns’ is the third single and video to be lifted from the synth / darkwave project’s new album, Split Levels (February 2022), and reveals that there is much more beneath the surface of Suburban Spell than Endall’s trademark brand of dystopian retro synthpop.

Those familiar with the album’s previous singles, ‘We All Pray’ and ‘Control’, will already have an inkling of Endall’s signature sound: what Post-punk.com’s Alice Teeple has called a “knack for hook-driven synthpop … dark and danceable… haunting… wistful, atmospheric, and otherworldly”, likened to Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Ultravox; and which Breda Maßmann recently described in Germany’s Sonic Seducer Musikmagazin as “sound architecture reminiscent of the eighties with contemporary esprit… (a) lively grooving Dance floor offensive with catchy melodies and a subtle touch of old Xymox and New Order.”

‘Fools and Clowns’, however, showcases another dimension to Endall’s songwriting influences: a whorl of swooning noise and dreamy shoegaze textures, as oceanic as the song’s new video. Shot at locations along the Great Ocean Road of Victoria, Australia, and filmed and edited by Adam Calaitzis (Toyland Studios), the video’s cinematic coastal scenery is contrasted with performance footage from urban inner-city Melbourne. Peter told Post-punk.com on Monday:

“The juxtaposition between the ethereal ocean and the urban environment resonated with the highs and lows of our lives, and how it’s a fine line between the two. The Great Ocean Road is a truly stunning natural environment; a very unique place.”

With the original album version of ‘Fools and Clowns’ clocking in at a little over 6½ minutes, the new “single edit” comes in at a playlist-friendly 4:10. Like the album, the new single has been recut and mixed by Endall and Calaitzis at Melbourne’s Toyland Studios, but this time remastered by the aptly named Crystal Mastering. As is a recurrent theme throughout Suburban Spell content, however; beneath that sparkling finish swells the menacing undertow of the song’s subject matter, as Endall explains:

“The song is commentary on guilt, stress and the ultimate release. The core of the song came when I was watching some “over confident” patrons in a club making fools of themselves, and I began thinking about how, given the right circumstances, I am also like that; and how those highly charged moments can quickly turn into ugliness and regret.”

The Split Levels album and ‘Fools and Clowns (The Single Edit)’ by Suburban Spell are available now from Bandcamp, Spotify, and all major streaming platforms.

Follow Suburban Spell on Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook

Music videos: ‘Fools and Clowns’ | ‘We All Pray’ | ‘Control’

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