video premiere: Patience – The Girls Are Chewing Gum

Roxanne Clifford, formerly of beloved indie-pop band Veronica Falls, announces her debut album as Patience, coming May 5th on Glasgow's great Night School Records and on her own Winona Records in the U.S. Dizzy Spells is a rare "love at first listen" record, thanks in large part to its brilliant, empowering opener "The Girls Are Chewing Gum", produced by the legend Todd Edwards, as the track exquisitely sets off the record's magical, romantic vibe. It's an icily glimmering and low-key majestic synth-pop anthem with an infectiously springy bassline, eliciting hazy visions of disco balls, confetti, and fog machines, although it would also make a killer soundtrack for a montage in some lost classic '80s high school flick. For the self-directed video, Roxanne "transformed her bedroom in Los Angeles into a makeshift disco by blacking out the windows", and then "invited female friends to chew gum and blow bubbles as confidently as possible." She says of the vid: "Partly inspired by British artist John Smith’s B&W short film from 1976 entitled The Girl Chewing Gum, the video is a literal and playful celebration of feminine self expression and confrontation."

Patience has a few U.S. shows planned, including a couple on the east coast this week with her Night School labelmate Molly Nilsson:

March 12 - PhilaMoca, Philadelphia w/ Molly Nilsson
March 13 - Elsewhere Hall, Brooklyn w/ Molly Nilsson
May 3 - Dizzy Spells album launch at Gold Diggers, Los Angeles