BBCC Announce Conceptual New Album ‘King Michael II,’ Share 16mm Video for ‘Campfire’
French art-rockers BBCC are leaning all the way into high-concept fantasy. Today the band released ‘Campfire,’ the lead single from their next album, ‘King Michael II and the Trial of the Axe.’
The record hits shelves June 12 via October Tone. If the album title sounds like a bizarre medieval epic, that is the exact point. The project takes place in a glam, grotesque alternate universe ruled by a distant ancestor of Michael. ‘Campfire’ serves as our introduction to this world, examining how we fake happiness while ignoring the looming threat of collapse. It plays out in three movements. You get a bright rush of baroque pop that decays into paranoid psychedelia before capping off with a massive orchestral finish.
The music video is just as ambitious. Directed by Laura Sifi and shot on 16mm film, the visual plays out like a surreal horror short. Co-written with Adrien Moerlen, the plot follows a group of revelers wandering into the Mélopeine Woods. In BBCC lore, the sap here is a potent hallucinogen. The leaves hum strange, trance-inducing frequencies. A chill hangout degrades into an ego-shattering fever dream. Then the forest catches fire. The group ends up trapped in the flames of their own carelessness.
Produced by October Tone Records and ASM Films with backing from the CNC, the video offers a vivid analog look at what happens when the party goes on a bit too long. The album is available for pre-order at the following link.
Headline photo: Hunay Saday
BBCC Website / Instagram / YouTube
October Tone Records Website / Instagram / YouTube
