Jordan Kleinman on April 12th, 2016

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Swerve’s sound can be traced to the 1990s, when Britpop and grunge ruled, and those influences can be heard in the majestic open-chord strums of the guitar and vocal harmonies on the band’s five-song EP, released last fall. The big sound in “Everything (Hey Girl)” becomes almost claustrophobic in the brilliant single-take video directed by Hank Fontaine of The Fontaines.

The video starts close on Swerve frontman’s Gregory Mahdesian’s eyes, and as the music continues the camera widens out to reveal more. It has a slow-mo effect that might have some viewers pressing CTRL-R repeatedly in confusion. It’s clear that he’s singing, and his mouth lines up with key words in the audio, but still has an unnerving feeling of being “off.” As the tempo and mood picks up for the chorus the camera pans back to reveal Mahdesian has been addressing his case to a small doll. He tells all to his porcelain enchantress, whose expression appears sullen. The video’s “warped” effect was achieved by filming in double-time and then slowing it down to match up with the original track. Even more, it’s congruent with the band’s visual style; a previous music video also featured a single character performing small actions in slow motion (with lyrics included).

||| Watch: “Everything (Hey Girl)”

||| Live: Swerve plays every Tuesday in May at Resident on what they’re calling a “Mixtape” residency, celebrating the influences of Britpop, Black Sabbath, the Beatles and David Bowie.