In the aftermath of a vehicular misadventure that nearly proved catastrophic or deadly, Detroit’s the HandGrenades have unveiled a new music video heralding their forthcoming EP.
“Wrapped in Plastic” has a serpentine, ethereal groove, the type that lends itself to a midnight drive down a moonlit highway. It’s something of a departure for the band, augmenting their Beatles-meets-garage rock template. The dreamlike quality of it is captured in the stark, black and white video, images overlapping with each other in kaleidoscope fashion.
One of the group’s two guitarists, Jesse Shepherd-Bates, directed the piece.
The four-track EP the tune hails from is titled 52, named for the exit number on Interstate 94 in Michigan’s Van Buren County, near where the band recently suffered a traffic crash. On the afternoon of April 11, 2014, the band was on tour, traveling on the highway between gigs in Chicago and Kalamazoo, Michigan, when the left rear wheel of their van broke off. Veering left into the median, the van collided with another vehicle beside them, preventing them from having a rollover situation. Though the van was wrecked, all of the band members and the driver of the other vehicle were unharmed.
The band is to self-release the EP on their Bandcamp page on Tuesday, May 13. It was produced by Zach Shipps, formerly of Electric Six. After recording it, the HandGrenades were joined by fifth member and keyboardist Joel Sanders, of fellow Detroit band Le Voyage.
The tracklist of 52 is as follows:
1. Heart Like Yours
2. Impossible
3. Wish You Cared
4. Wrapped in Plastic