Video: Spoon, ‘Can I Sit Next To You’

Shay Mehr on February 23rd, 2017

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Austin natives Spoon are having fun with the release of their album “Hot Thoughts” (out March 17 via Matador Records). If their second single, “Can I Sit Next To You,” seems eerily familiar that’s because it is. In fact, the band has subliminally placed the song in American Airlines boarding music, in various clubs and venues, and even on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “Late Night with Stephen Colbert.” The track premiered this week with a surreal black-and-white video, directed by Marcel Dzama, featuring beastly costumed characters. Mysterious marketing aside, Spoon is also enjoying a release week at home in Austin, curating openers for a three-day residency at The Main during this year’s SXSW from March 14-16, so it’s safe to say this won’t be just any old tour for them.

“Can I Sit Next To You” opens with a signature funky Spoon beat and black and white flickers of a subway ride and garish werewolf. The wolf waits for his lover, a short haired woman cloaked in white, when they’re ambushed by hooded figures dressed in polka dots. Taken into a garage, they dance hypnotically in front of light setup among helmet clad polka dot wearers. All of this is in between shots of a six-eyed man playing chess. Suddenly a group of monstrous fellows, one can assume to be Spoon, approach on a four-person bicycle and have a shootout with the hooded creatures. It’s anyone’s guess what the message is with this plot, but you can’t argue that the song doesn’t fit the aesthetic theme. The sinister synths bring the song together incredibly, as well as playing to the mysterious carnival characters, and the funky bass line will keep concert-goers dancing throughout the tour.

||| Watch: The video for “Can I Sit Next to You”