The 1975 visit a digital detox center in the animated video for “The Birthday Party.” The song will appear on their upcoming album Notes on a Conditional Form.
For the 3D animated video, the band teamed up with director Ben Ditto and co-director/animator Jon Emmony to create the world of Mindshower, a place where people can take a break from technology. There, the band encounters various internet characters from Reddit, 4chan and more. The band’s movements were scanned and used to create their digital avatars. Singer Matty Healy performs the soft ballad throughout.
“Matty and I have a shared fascination with the underbelly of internet culture and how that impacts modern life, and we looked to address this from several directions and created an engaging and beautiful piece of filmmaking to contain these messages and their performance in a revolutionary way,” Ditto said in a statement.
Healy sat down with Zane Lowe for an Apple Music interview about the song as well. “Oh, dude it’s one of the things I’m most proud of,” he said. “The videos and the music have always been very, very much tied together and come at the same time.” He says this video/song is a prime example.
Mindshower and elements of the video will be part of the band’s live concert experience on their upcoming tour in support of Notes on a Conditional Form. The LP will be released on April 24th and their North American tour will launch soon after. Phoebe Bridgers and Beabadoobee will be opening for the band on select dates of the tour.