Music videos aid in relaying an artist’s image. Serious artists may have a plot while upbeat acts may stick to a performance/party sequence. Set It Off walk the line between both, but certainly swayed into party central and embraced the “permanent vacation” lyric in their latest video for “Forever Stuck In Our Youth.”
The track starts off with a literal interpretation of the first few verses. Vocalist Cody Carson holds an empty bottle (“So, here I stare / At an empty bottle full of confidence”) in a room of sleeping friends and then runs out of the house like one of the walking dead (“I’m a zombie with no notion of regret”) with them all in tow.
The rest of the video is essentially a montage of the now four members of the Florida-based pop rock band driving in a borderline product placed Mustang convertible and Jeep on a palm tree-lined street to get to a boat party. The only thing that saves the video from being just another cliché party scene is the expert editing and continued Duality theme.
The video employs a time lapse approach, fast-forwarding the bands trek to the car and then slowing it down for things like guitarist Dan Clermont diving up and over the back of the Jeep and Carson sliding across the hood of the Mustang. The video also steps it up by zooming out from the band and showing an overview of the landscape on land and from the boat.
The time lapse and zoom technique is then mixed together in the second run-through of the pre-chorus. The band and extras are set up around Carson as the former declares “We’re young, we’re dumb…” and Carson finishes it off with “…and having fun.” The call and response technique continues, offering the cool editing effect to keep the video intriguing.
The track’s album, Duality, was released in October and with it the band has embraced a black, white and blue theme that can be seen throughout the footage from the colors of the cups to the choice of swim attire. Carson is also seen sporting a Duality logo necklace that can be seen again in the form of a firework.
“Forever Stuck In Our Youth” is the first video from Set It Off that has not included founding bassist Austin Kerr. Kerr parted ways with the band in late May after one sexual assault allegation led to several others coming forward. In a statement via his tumblr account, he says “I am actively working with several organizations to better understand wom[e]n and after training hope to eventually volunteer to help them. I vow to use this experience to get knowledge for both myself and others.”
Duality is out now via Equal Vision Records. The band also released a stripped down version of five of Duality’s tracks and one new on Duality: Stories Unplugged EP last month. Set It Off are currently out on the full Vans Warped Tour.