Kitchener emos Romancer have been laying out their emotions since the band's 2015 formation from the ashes of pop punks Lancaster. The new band coincided with an increased focus on ambience on As We Both Close In on the Water LP and the following year's Honeybee EP. The latter's second single, "Milo and Pink Regret," really highlights the evolution, so the band made an appropriately atmospheric video to match.
The solemn and twinkly emo tune is paired with slow-moving visuals of the band, while chopped and screwed animations are cast over them to hazy effect. The projections come from vocalist/guitarist Adam Horrocks' childhood VHS collection, and the artifacts of the medium — static, lines and more — are fully intact. The song's explosive climax features a full-band performance in front of a forest, with the intensity of the effects matching the part's post-rock vibes.
In a statement, Horrocks shares the inspiration for the song:
"'Milo and Pink Regret" is the second single off our EP Honeybee. Honeybee was the fruit of my depression in 2017. There were countless moments in the writing process where I wasn't confident in my creative ability. I felt like I needed to consume downers to get myself sad enough about what I was going through to get in a headspace that mirrored the emotion of the song. On a lonely drunken summer night, I embarrassingly recall taking 20mg of melatonin (hours before sleep) out of desperation. I'd take and do anything to make myself feel low.
Fortunately, Horrocks says he's since moved past that and is creatively stimulated to create more positive music, similar to the experience he had producing this video with director ICEDOUT and collaborator Mercedes Arn-Horn (of Courage My Love), who joined Horrocks at a library to make digital copies of his movies for the project, which you can watch below.
The solemn and twinkly emo tune is paired with slow-moving visuals of the band, while chopped and screwed animations are cast over them to hazy effect. The projections come from vocalist/guitarist Adam Horrocks' childhood VHS collection, and the artifacts of the medium — static, lines and more — are fully intact. The song's explosive climax features a full-band performance in front of a forest, with the intensity of the effects matching the part's post-rock vibes.
In a statement, Horrocks shares the inspiration for the song:
"'Milo and Pink Regret" is the second single off our EP Honeybee. Honeybee was the fruit of my depression in 2017. There were countless moments in the writing process where I wasn't confident in my creative ability. I felt like I needed to consume downers to get myself sad enough about what I was going through to get in a headspace that mirrored the emotion of the song. On a lonely drunken summer night, I embarrassingly recall taking 20mg of melatonin (hours before sleep) out of desperation. I'd take and do anything to make myself feel low.
Fortunately, Horrocks says he's since moved past that and is creatively stimulated to create more positive music, similar to the experience he had producing this video with director ICEDOUT and collaborator Mercedes Arn-Horn (of Courage My Love), who joined Horrocks at a library to make digital copies of his movies for the project, which you can watch below.
