Warren Fu drags us through time and space for The Strokes

With a single retreating camera move, Warren Fu's new promo for The Stroke's track Ode to the Mets is a gloriously cerebral journey through an eerie abandoned world.

Using animation as a technique, the Partizan director's film certainly could not be considered a 'cartoon', the visuals appearing more-or-less static in nature with only the viewer, through the floating lens, traversing the scenarios.

The track, alongside others for album The New Abnormal, was recorded pre-Covid, Fu’s initial concept for the video, back in February, was for it to be shot live-action with a combination of locations and miniature sets. However, Fu says, “when Covid stay-at-home measures were put in place in April, we had to go the animation route. This actually ended up being a blessing, because it allowed us to get more surreal and otherworldly with the visuals.”