VIDEO PREMIERE: Red Herring's Neon: a trippy stroll through the urban jungle

Vancouver's own Red Herring is "thrilled to present the fourth video from our new EP, "Neon" - its centrepiece and title track, in which our song’s protagonist explores the electric city, takes in the sights and encounters denizens of the psychedelic night, as he becomes one with the neon."

"Neon" is the moodiest, sexiest song - and one of the older ones - on Red Herring's new EP, with a slippery, slick menace to it, and yet also an excitement, an attunement, an eyes-wide-open alertness that perfectly befits its subject matter and the central image of the video (a man walking city streets). Singer Enrico Renz explained in an interview I did for Big Takeover  a few years back that the song was about "the lure of the night… 'where the painted ladies roam the street to let you know that you don’t have to be alone.'” 

Lots of times, the adjective "psychedelic" is applied to music and art that has no actual bearing on the psychedelic experience, but this song captures the edginess, the perceptual heightening of acid just perfectly. Having grown up in the 'burbs, I can only speculate what it might feel like to go for walkies on the dark city streets at night when the drugs finally kick in, but surely "Neon"captures the feeling: the fear, the uncertainty, the excitement, and the fascination. 

The video for "Neon" was produced by Susana Smith, who was also the creator of the EP cover artwork. It is the fourth video from the EP to see light, after "Brain Song," "Julia," and the execution-themed dig at stiff-upper-lipped-ness, "Chin Up." 

The press release continues that Red Herring's comeback EP, also entitled Neon, "drives imaginative soundscapes that mesh with taut and refreshing lyrics to make every song feel like a scene in a David Lynch movie. Every track is rich in story and features the complete original 1980s lineup: Enrico Renz on vocals/guitar, Stephen Nikleva on guitar, Martin Walton on bass, Steve Lazin on drums; plus hired gun collaborator (upgraded to full band member) Id Guinness on keys, and the game-changing Tania Gosgnach on backup vocals." (Listen to the track "Julia," linked above, for a sense of just how much she adds to the band). 

Order Neon through the band's bandcamp here. Read my very revealing interview with Enrico Renz here (note for fans of the recent Netflix series The Queen's Gambit that chess is a significant part of the interview!). And be sure to see Red Herring live... whenever that happens next (there are LOTS of goodies on their Youtube channel, note, including footage from a 1985 concert at the Savoy, from right around the time they won the Shindig!).