Local Natives, of Silver Lake California, released their new album Sunlit Youth last year, but today the group shared a video for “Dark Days.” The video acts as a stylized documentary of sorts that captures the band recording the record at a few picturesque spots in and around the LA area. The band offered a little bit of background on the clip to Stereogum,
“Dark Days is a bit of a misleading name. It’s a nostalgic song about high school first loves and all the intensity and tension surrounding them, mixed with a little dose of religious guilt. Growing up in Southern California, we didn’t have many days without sun. Dark Days brought to mind good memories of swimming on rainy days and sneaking out to your girlfriend’s house.
We’d never done a duet before and when we brainstormed on our favorite female vocalists, Nina Persson immediately came to mind. We’d never met or had any connection to her prior, but she gave us a chance and we’re so happy to have her beautiful voice on our record.
This footage is from the past two years of making Sunlit Youth. Instead of just going to a ‘proper studio’ in LA, we used most of our recording budget to travel and work in some beautiful locations. Our friend Jonathan came along and filmed us in Thailand, Malaysia, Joshua Tree, Ojai, Nicaragua and London. Not really sure why Taylor was naked…”
Sunlit Youth is out via Loma Vista Records
