Alvvays is an indie pop band primarily based out of Toronto, and their newest music video is created by an surprising artist: ConcernedApe, often known as Eric Barone. Barone is the developer of traditional farm sim Stardew Valley and Haunted Chocolatier, an RPG presently in improvement.
The surprising collaboration was the results of a sequence of fortuitous occasions. Molly Rankin, vocalist and guitarist for Alvvays, despatched the developer an e-mail asking if he can be thinking about contributing a bit of artwork to the sport. Barone accepted, and began arising with concepts whereas listening to Alvvays’ Blue Rev album. “I felt like, ‘I can’t simply draw a picture, I gotta go all the way in which,” Barone says in a name with Polygon. “It’s simply the form of particular person I’m. It’s exhausting for me to restrain myself to a quite simple factor.”
Whereas Barone is thought for pixel artwork, just like the little avatars and portraits that characterize the farmer’s pals in Stardew Valley, he took a extra experimental course of with the music video. The characters journey via a sequence of surreal and textured environments impressed by side-scrollers.
“I needed to study new stuff too, as a result of there’s a 3D part, and I’ve by no means performed 3D stuff earlier than,” says Barone. “I needed to study utterly new ideas for that, however that was enjoyable. And I would be capable to use that sooner or later — I all the time thought I’d by no means make a 3D sport, however after this I really feel like I may and it might truly be form of enjoyable and fascinating.”
Alvvays performs Stardew Valley typically on tour, bringing a number of Switches on the highway. “I feel there’s like a component of humanity and empathy in Stardew,” says Rankin in a name with Polygon. “It’s meditative and simply type of this universe you will get misplaced in for an extended time frame the place nobody actually dies and every part is pretty mild.”
The band was shocked at Barone’s initiative in creating a complete music video, but it surely synced properly with the themes of the album. “It’d be secure to say we don’t need to make music that seems like being on the web,” says Alec O’Hanley, guitarist, in the identical name. “We actively do attempt to create work that displays an earlier indeterminant period. A lot of our favourite works accomplish that, whether or not it’s an album or a portray or a online game. We strive to not delve too deep into nostalgia, however we additionally don’t think about {that a} soiled phrase. By any stretch.”