After an album released in 2015 and a modeling clay video seen over 2 million times for the track « Tech Noir » (Terminator nightclub) with the voice of the legendary master of horror John Carpenter, finally here is the long-awaited return of the Synthpop pioneers GUNSHIP with Stella Le Page (vocals) and Genuine Human (video). Before the new LP, we have a hypnotic song, an 8-bit video with a lot of references and a contest to win a personalized arcade machine, what else?
THE TRACK
Indeed the dream team composed of Dan Haigh, Alex Westaway, Alex Gingell and the French singer Stella Le Page (Beau Corbeau) come back with a new retro-futuristic and extremely romantic track, the very atmospheric and cinematographic « Art3mis & Parzival » available everywhere. Always created with vintage analog synthesizers and other retro electronic equipment from the 80s, there is sweet and captivating rhythm, some sounds directly refer to the best science fiction movies but this time with a magnificent female voice which covers most of the track. Of course Mister Westaway managed a masterful refrain that makes us travel far away. Just like the clip, the track pays tribute to « Ready Player One« , the book written by Ernest Cline in 2011 that is adapted in cinema format for the end of March by the legendary Steven Spielberg.
The story is about a virtual love between two characters, Art3mis and Parzival, equipped with virtual headsets in 2044 (a year before the movie). The band expresses itself about this subject:
The core of Ready Player One – it’s spirit – i.e. the power of imagination, the lack of cynicism and the notion that one person can make a difference. If you melted this stuff down and mixed it up with the optimistic future-gazing promise of the 1980s, you will have brewed up the fuel that burns in the heart of GUNSHIP. It’s a fantastic book, a helpful reminder to stay in touch with your childhood – we wrote this tribute for Ernest Cline. To quote Wes Anderson’s Mr. Henry character “The world… needs dreamers” and in the current climate, now more than ever.
THE VIDEO
After the video of the track « Revel In Your Time », the artist named Genuine Human (real name Jason Tammemagi) took care of this new video of « Art3mis & Parzival » with pixel art techniques paying tribute to the graphics of 8-bit video games from the 80s that were on Game consoles like the Commodore 64 or Atari 2600 to Nintendo NES/SuperFamicom and Sega MasterSystem/Megadrive. The result that emerges seems to be directly released from cinematics taken from these mythical consoles. Like the track, the overall mood of this work is totally related to the book « Ready Player One », so it refers to more than 80 games, movies, TV shows and even albums.
Here’s what the director reveals about his inspirations for this project:
I wanted to capture the romance, the dreamy quality of the track. It’s a song you can get lost in, immerse yourself in, until it lifts you up with the epic chorus and fills you with optimism and energy. It comes from a place of nostalgia but becomes something entirely new. It is a celebration of old and new, the VR future we all dreamed of back in 1984. It’s set in 2044 but it’s really the 2018 that our childhood selves thought we would be living in. It is a homage to our favorite classic games and classic movies and the book itself, all wrapped around a shared connection between two people separated over distance and yet united in a virtual world.
THE CONTEST
By following the principle of « Ready Player One », GUNSHIP proposes to find a lot of Easter eggs hidden in the video with the ultimate goal of winning $ 500 billion and a total control of the OASIS. Little joke, the reward will be to win a beautiful stylized arcade machine with GUNSHIP visuals and 2000 games. To find the password that will unlock the final gate of the game, it’s up to you to decode the hidden messages that are lost in the video of « Art3mis & Parzival » and the associated Spotify playlist. Try by clicking on the banner below:
