Gossip: everyone’s talking about it. In this case, however, Gossip is so much more than a rumor mill perpetuated by middle schoolers. Gossip is the three-person indie rock band made up of lead singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Nathan Howdeshell and drummer Hannah Billie. Their sound in the past has experimented with everything from gospel to punk rock, but they are constantly reinventing themselves. For their newest album, A Joyful Noise, due in stores on May 22 through Columbia Records, they intended to approach their sound from a new angle and to “create their own brand of pop”. Singer Ditto even admitted to having drawn great inspiration from the music of ABBA when putting together A Joyful Noise.
The video for single “Perfect World”, straight from their upcoming album, has just hit the Web with the song hailed by Spin as a “taut, uptempo electro-rock, with soaring disco orchestration”. Directed by Price James and shot on location in London, where the band filmed inside an authentic medieval church, it begins in a black and white/sepia tone, and adds color in as it proceeds. The use of color builds in a way that echoes sunrise peeking through a stained glass window, and by the end the entire video is bathed in vibrant color. Seductive dancers move to the beat of the music and fire pops up in different incarnations throughout, making the video a dramatic and unforgettable backdrop for the catchy and soulful song from this innovative band.
Check out Gossip live, be at NYC’s Terminal 5 on May 22 when they release their fifth album A Joyful Noise