Music Video Recommendation: “Rio” by Adventure (2011)

Feeling a bit nostalgic so, just in case I haven't personally made you just watch this with me, I'll digitally invite you to hit "play" on what is still my favorite music video of all time.1 Equal parts inscrutable, playful, lo-fi, pretentious, sincere, joyous and melancholic, it's a captivating watch from start to finish. I still don't know what any of it really "means;" elemental geometry, water, the feminine, music, performance: it's all there and it's also all not there, you know? It's kind of a visual ASMR, with so many visceral textures and repeated themes. There's little moments I love and always watch out for: the way the knife kind of hits one of the cones on accident, the second time we see the watering can, the smile in the shower.

And, yes, this is indeed a music video recommendation but it can’t be uncoupled from the incredible track from long-dormant electronic-pop outfit Adventure. It thrums along, sounding both modern and vintage, the synths overlapping delightfully as it reaches its extended jam of a bridge. The other highlight of this song, of course, is that every time I hear it, I think back to the music video…

1Ela Minus’s recent “COMBAT,” which I have written about before, might be a close second these days.