Arctic Day-Glo

It's December and many of you are probably eagerly awaiting a magical, sparkling gift from the upper regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Lucky for you, Caribou drummer Brad Weber and his alliterative side project Pick a Piper have delivered us a video for their song "Rooms," filmed in Iceland and Canada and wrapped in plenty of sumptuous arctic day-glo.

Perhaps 'Pick a Percussionist' would have been a more suitable moniker for this group, as its dense and eclectic percussion turns out to be the most pleasing feature of this particular song and video. The song itself is a sweet, droning affair that veers dangerously close to church camp sing-along material at times. However, things pick up as the initial percussion section of jingle bells and minimalist glockenspiel give way to an arsenal of intricately interwoven toms, hand drums and cymbals.

The accompanying visuals encompass a similar sweetness and wildness. A door opens to a room, or perhaps simply room, a physical and metaphysical space where soft dreamlike landscapes and bright, visceral action coexist and seamlessly interact. Green-screened deconstructionist psychedelia that would make Jimmy Joe Roche proud commingles with placid geology documentary landscapes and nothing could look more natural. The prominence of the former builds with the percussive crescendo of the music until everything recedes at the end into a pleasant lull of natural voices and scenery.

PICK A PIPER - Rooms (filmed in Iceland and Canada) from Brad Weber on Vimeo.