Sad Night Dynamite, the project of U.K.-based artists Archie Blagden and Josh Greacen, are bringing listeners further inside the world in their debut self-titled mixtape with the ominous new video for “Krunk.”
The duo find themselves at the center of a sinister fantasy in the Greg Hackett-directed visual. During a lively night out, Sad Night Dynamite take their white limo for a drive through the city. However, the evening eventually takes a turn as the luxurious car journey leads them to an unexpected destination.
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For the “Krunk” video, Sad Night Dynamite created the ultimate narcissistic revenge story. With Blagden in the driver’s seat of their symbolic white limo, Greacen’s indulgent night of fun in the backseat quickly disappears as he’s unwillingly taken to an abandoned forest. In the end, the car ends up submerged in a lake which is a callback to the artwork on the duo’s mixtape.
Hackett shared on Instagram that Sad Night Dynamite knew they wanted to tell the story behind the artwork and felt the “Krunk” video was the best opportunity to do so.
“This turned up after a conversation with @tommoGreer [manager] and a few good calls with @sadnightdynamite,” Hackett says on Instagram.” It went something like, ‘The album cover’s great, let’s work back from the limo submerged in a lake. What could the story be?’ The lyrics delve into another realm of narcissism, so I just went with it. Let’s have one member of the SND steal the other and his limo.”
Along with this, Sad Night Dynamite exclusively told Alternative Press that the menacing visual depicts the negative qualities found in society.
“‘Krunk’ represents the worst of us,” Sad Night Dynamite exclusively tells Alternative Press. “Fueled by narcissism, he is the ultimate man. He will stop at nothing until he’s God.”
At the center of the video is Sad Night Dynamite’s familiar white limo. The motif has appeared throughout the visuals for their debut mixtape including “Smoke Hole.” Last month, Sad Night Dynamite told NME how this symbol represents the concept behind their new LP.
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“That visual is the centerpiece of the first mixtape and it represents us in a weird way,” Greacen told NME. “You can hate it if you want, but once you get inside you can’t help but love it.”
Blagden went on to add that Sad Night Dynamite incorporated the white limo throughout the mixtape’s visuals despite how ridiculous they think it is.
“It’s just so obnoxious, cinematic and so twatty,” Blagen told NME. “Plus I’m getting used to being taken around in limos, so it’s not going away anytime soon.”
See what happens to Sad Night Dynamite in the “Krunk” video below. The track is also available to stream here.
More on Sad Night Dynamite
Sad Night Dynamite has been years in the making. According to Billboard, Blagden and Greacen played music throughout grade school and later studied music tech in high school. When they graduated in 2019, the duo independently released their debut song under a different project name that they refuse to reveal out of “total shame.”
Then, last March, Sad Night Dynamite signed a record deal with Elektra/Parlophone Records. Since then, they’ve slowly been building up to the release of their debut. Last year, they put out new tracks such as “Icy Violence” and “Killshot,” both of which appear on the latest mixtape.
For “Killshot,” Sad Night Dynamite took inspiration straight from the headlines around the world. To help make the song’s relatable narrative even more striking, the duo debuted an intense video modeled after the surveillance cameras that watch our every move.
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As for “Icy Violence,” the unsettling video looks like something out of The Blair Witch Project. The track’s laidback sound and lo-fi beats greatly contrast the shaky footage and pixelated clips found throughout the visual. Nevertheless, Sad Night Dynamite take fans on a chaotic journey through sprawling hills and a dark forest in “Icy Violence,” which can be viewed below.
More recently, Sad Night Dynamite transported fans into a hellish nightmare in their video for “Smoke Hole.” The stop motion animation takes place on a fairground, but the event looks anything but fun amid strange characters and scary clowns. The ending seemingly includes a subtle nod to Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage as all of the fairground’s guests come together to watch one final performance.
Although their debut mixtape was only released last month, 2021 has already been pretty eventful for Sad Night Dynamite. Recently, they earned shout-outs from Gorillaz, Ashnikko and Jeshi among others. As well, in February, Sad Night Dynamite revealed to NME that they’re already collaborating with a slew of artists including FKA Twigs.
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“She’s one of our favorite artists, and we got to write a song with her for her new album, which sounds amazing by the way,” Blagden told NME. “At one point she played an opera she’d written, which just irritated me like, ‘you make amazing pop music then you’ve gone and done this opera?’”
Greacen further noted that they are incredibly happy with the work they did with FKA Twigs and hope the track will be released sometime soon.
“She just came into the studio, blew us away, then left,” Greacen told NME. “The way she works is incredible. She’s doing all the production, moving around the synths and bossing it. She was really into 808s & Heartbreak, so we had to go and be Kanye West for the day. It was a baptism of fire, but we’re really happy with the track we made. Hopefully, it gets released.”
Sad Night Dynamite’s debut mixtape is available to stream below.
What are your reactions to the sinister “Krunk” video from Sad Night Dynamite? Let us know in the comments below.