Foals’ Yannis Philippakis has shared a new video from his project with the late Tony Allen, Yannis & The Yaw.
The clip, which you can view below, soundtracks the song ‘Clementine’ which featured on their recent EP ‘Lagos Paris London’.
According to a press release, “it is a video postcard” of their recent tour “its grainy photography establishing instant nostalgia for the recent past uniting live footage, rehearsals and behind-the-scenes to document the first chapter in the Yaw’s touring adventures”.
Philippakis said of the song: “It’s a slightly lighter shade on the record. I wanted it to feel like a French film from the ‘60s, like a sun-bleached Truffaut film with lots of longing, nostalgia and romance. It’s about the ephemerality of experience, and craving something that’s just out of reach.”
It follows previous singles ‘Rain Can’t Reach Us’, ‘Under The Strikes’ and ‘Walk Through Fire’.
In recent years, the singer had been steadily teasing the project, first revealing news of sessions with legendary drummer Allen to NME back in 2017. Allen, who played with both Fela Kuti and The Good, The Bad & The Queen, died in 2020 at the age of 79, but the music had been in development for some time before his passing
NME spoke to Philippakis in Damon Albarn’s 13 Studios in West London earlier this year to discuss finally being able to release the songs he recorded with Allen.
In the interview, the Foals frontman said he felt “unburdened” now the material was being released, and explained that Allen’s passing made it “much more of a serious project” to tackle.
“There should be a feeling of galvanisation, and that all isn’t lost,” he said. “You can create beauty around and outside of things being on fire. The record is soundtracking this feeling of precipice. It doesn’t impart a specific message other than being the soundtrack to the protest. It isn’t didactic in any way – that isn’t my style.”