Stephen Malkmus released the video for new single, “Shadowbanned.” The song will appear on Malkmus’ forthcoming album, Traditional Techniques, out on March 6 via Matador.
“Shadowbanned” sees Malkmus reflecting on the modern world: connectivity, commercialism and identity. The Jan Lankisch-directed video mirrors these reflections, featuring a number of Stephen’s friends — Mac DeMarco, Jason Schwartzman, Kim Gordon, Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, Conor Oberst and more — using a “Being Stephen Malkmus” Instagram filter developed by Lankisch and Janosch Pugnaghi. Also, all images of the real Malkmus are blurred or pixelated.
“The video was inspired by reading about female singers and musicians who were photoshopped from their album covers by an Iranian music streaming site,” Lankisch said. “Identity is a matter of design. People like to play with characters and pretend to be someone else.”
Check out the video for “Shadowbanned” below:
