Panic At The Disco Go Pastoral

Kate Richardson | October 31, 2008 11:45 am

I spent part of my summer traveling around the country and talking to bandom writers (bandom, in case you are lucky enough to be out of the loop, is fan fiction about emo bands). The overwhelming consensus among my subjects was that the characterization of Panic at the Disco’s Ryan Ross (not the lead singer, the other one) had taken an abrupt turn from fragile emo kid to twee hippie. Judging from this video for their new single “Northern Downpour,” he seems to be angling for yet another shift: Middle school graduation attendee in 1975, complete with goofy haircut.

“Downpour” is paired with a sleepy, visually flat video with a little too much soft focus for my tastes. But the clip pairs nicely with the song, which is as lovely and lackadaisical as an early summer nap in a meadow (they’ve come a long way since their first single). The loose-to-nonexistent narrative and fuzzy, disjointed images make it a hard video to get excited about, but it stays out the way of the song and lets the band stand in the middle of a field and celebrate their new identity as purveyors of bucolic emo folk, so I guess we’ll call it a success. As a festive bonus, please enjoy their novelty Halloween song. (I can just imagine the horror genre bandom stories that this video will inspire.)

Panic At The Disco – Northern Downpour [YouTube]

Tags: Panic At The Disco