Today, longtime Athens power-pop infused group Chris McKay and The Critical Darlings share an exclusive viewing of the music video for “Wide Bicycle,” a single appearing on the upcoming re-release of Satisfactionista. The remastered, deluxe edition of the album—available for pre-order now—will be released next Friday, Oct. 20, along with the official release of the video for “Wide Bicycle.”
“For the video, we originally used an edit of the classic surrealist film Un Chien Andalou. However, for the 2023 edition of Satisfactionista Deluxe, I decided to put together something more psychedelic and of my own concoction. I put on some old stage clothes, got in front of a green screen and tried to inhabit the character that sang that song. That guy almost seems like a side show barker who’s seen better days, but doesn’t know how to do anything else,” says McKay. “I wanted the new video to reflect who The Critical Darlings were in that moment while also nodding to the now. Or is it the other way around? I always get the two confused.”
The video opens with a clip from a 1963 public domain bicycle safety video called One Got Fat, which McKay felt helped perfectly explain how someone might end up in the world of “Wide Bicycle.” Throughout the video, it’s easy to follow the bicycle theme while also tumbling down a psychedelic rabbit hole. Drawing inspiration from early MTV music videos and psychedelic imagery’s tendency towards borrowing old footage, it seemed fitting to run random clips of old bicycle riding footage. As part of McKay’s process of piecing together the video’s imagery, he included updated AI portraits of Darlings members Frank DeFreese, Joe Orr and Josh Harrison as well.
“The video is ridiculous. Therefore, it’s a correct portrayal of the music,” says McKay.
Satisfactionista Deluxe will be the album’s first vinyl release, including a limited deluxe edition double LP remastered with bonus tracks and an eight page booklet with lyrics, photos, information and memorabilia. Each track holds a lot of history from its original creation to the current state, and full details on how the music behind “Wide Bicycle” came to be can be found in the video’s description on YouTube. The Satisfactionista Deluxe album and other projects behind McKay can be found on his Bandcamp.
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