From their album ‘Public Library’, not to mention our list of The Best Music of 2016 (So Far), The Burning Hell have released a video for ‘The Stranger’, and it’s everything you could want, and more, and more, and Spanish subtitles.
The song tells the tale of two ill-fated lovebirds who have broken their vows, spiritual or otherwise, as they flee from the wrath of a jilted ex-lover, and an International House Of Pancakes. They seek shelter with a stranger, and he welcomes them into his home, but having explained their situation the lovers only find themselves in further danger.
“This song just came out of nowhere, more or less,” says Burning Hell’s loquacious lyricist Mathias Kom. “Though I had just finished reading the classic Perry Mason mystery the Case of the Drowning Duck and I suppose the convoluted plot of that excellent book had some subconscious impact on me. Also, I’ve always wanted to play a villain in a song.”
“I guess one man’s murderous priest-for-hire is another man’s warrior for truth.”
The video was crafted by filmmaker Angus MacPherson, who took the song’s story of the lovebirds and the stranger and parcelled it together with a mountain of archived footage. “He’s an amazing photographer who mostly does commercial work these days, and he has also taken most of the Burning Hell press photos over the years. He’s also my oldest friend and, as someone I’ve been crossing creative paths with since the age of ten, I’ve learned to trust his instincts completely.”
Throw in some Spanish subtitles with a few gratuitous bathroom scenes featuring Burning Hell bandmates Nick Ferrio and Darren Browne playing clarinet and trombone (and oddly enough not saxophones) and you’ve got a dancy good time characteristic of the rapid-fire literary comedy The Burning Hell have come to be known for.
“Those subtitles are actually in a flowery, often antique kind of Spanish, courtesy of the linguist Pilar Alderete, who also happens to be the person who first taught me Spanish. Spanish subtitles just seemed to make sense. I don’t really know why. I don’t know how good a bid this is to break into the Spanish language market.”
“It was the most fun I’ve ever had making a video. I hope that Nick [Ferrio] and Darren [Browne] feel the same despite what we put them through! The toilet scene really was their idea though.