For their latest video, “Home Is A Fire”, Death Cab For Cutie turned to artist Shepard Fairey to craft a new music video. Death Cab’s bassist, Nick Harmer worked with Fairey on the video, which is full of beautiful city and landscape shots, peppered with artwork centered around the song’s lyrics.
“This video is about illustrating these ideas and the multiple dimensions of the city experience by taking the viewer on a journey to encounter the Home Is A Fire lyrics as street art. Street art appeals because it makes the landscape a little less dreary for the viewer, and it is a bureaucracy free creative outlet for the participants. I would say that a street art call to action is ‘if you don’t like your home… reshape it’,” Shepard Fairey wrote about the video’s meaning.
Harmer shared his thoughts as well, adding “For me, Home Is A Fire is about redefining familiar space. The narrator in the song seems unsettled, searching and yearning, scanning the environment for something comforting in an uncomfortable place. I knew that if the band would give me a chance to make a visual accompaniment to this song that those would be the themes and mood that I would most want to highlight and accentuate. As a parallel to this, I have always been intrigued and excited about the street art movement that has really exploded during my lifetime. It’s a movement and expression that I feel defines my generation in many ways, and some artists that for years worked as shadows have now become known by name. One of those names is Shepard Fairey. And not only is he an artist that I hold in the highest regard, but he is also a friend.”
The song will appear on Death Cab For Cutie’s new LP, Codes and Keys, which will be released on May 31st. You watch the video below and read more about the inspiration behind the piece at BoingBoing.net.