There’s a famous scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 film Notorious in which Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant share a seemingly supernatural kiss. Their movements unfold with ghostly fluidity, suspended somewhere between dream and reality, as though time itself is both sped up and slowed. Sunset Honor Unit’s video for their latest single, “Let the Wild Ones Run Free,” evokes a similarly haunting motion, albeit achieved through an entirely different cinematic language.
The song offers a first look at Sunset Honor Unit’s upcoming album, In the House of the Highest Dead Ends, due out October 2. If the striking visuals on display here are any indication, the group is entering a wholly new era with confidence, creativity, and a willingness to blur the line between the ordinary and the uncanny.
Directed by one of the band’s co-leads Drew Kirby, and shot by filmmaker David Tabor, the video unfolds as an ambitious single-shot take on a night in the life of Sunset Honor Unit. The camera follows the band through twisting basement corridors on a quiet journey, drawing viewers deeper into the song with every turn, as if the walls themselves are shifting around the performers.
Filmed in drummer John Restivo’s basement, the production was assembled entirely in-house with a cast of a half-dozen friends and collaborators.
“Let the Wild Ones Run Free” is a reintroduction to Sunset Honor Unit’s cosmic, alt country, folk pop and psychedelic balladry while expanding upon the group’s sonic identity. Here, the group is spearheaded by singers and guitar players Drew Kirby (CDSM, Mothers) and Jake Chisenhall (Delorean Gray, Floral Portrait). For this latest release, the lineup is filled out by drummer Restivo (CDSM), keyboard player Jason Bronson (Floral Portrait), and bass player Miller May (Misnomer).
More than a simple preview, “Let the Wild Ones Run Free” serves as a statement of intent. Between its mesmerizing single-take visuals and the band’s expanding musical vision, Sunset Honor Unit seems poised to step confidently into its next chapter, embracing the strange, the beautiful, and the uncanny in equal measure.
Sunset Honor Unit headlines an album release party at The Earl on Saturday, October 3, with Spencer Thomas, Flat Tired, and Feltie.
If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.
Rad/ATL 