Nation of Language have released a new song called ‘Sole Obsession’. The track arrives with an accompanying video directed by John MacKay and shot in 16mm around Queens and Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park. Check it out below.
The band’s Ian Devaney and Aidan Noell said in a statement about the single: “In simplest terms, ‘Sole Obsession’ is one about knowing when, or if, to give in or give up. Particularly, when to untie the knots we tie ourselves into when an infatuation sets in. So many of us have experienced an addictive feeling that constricts us further and further until, hopefully, there’s a moment of clarity that allows one to free themself from that particular compulsion. The title of our next album, Strange Disciple, is a lyric from ‘Sole Obsession’ which references a character of such a nature; one who finds themself an adherent to a subject that is probably not worth the devotion.”
They added: “We chose to represent this with an anonymous robed figure that lives within all of us, waiting for us to don the cloak and take up our role, and we worked with John Mackay to bring the Disciple to life in the music video. Taking cinematic inspiration from Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) as well as Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1958), the Disciple is depicted as one of us, and we in turn are depicted as the Disciple.”
‘Sole Obsession’ follows Nation of Language’s 2022 single ‘From the Hill’. Back in December, they shared a remix of ‘Across That Fine Line’ by Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard. Their latest album, A Way Forward, came out in 2021.
Check out our inspirations interview with Nation of Language.
