Flight Of The Concords Get Serious

Brett McKenzie gets zapped into a series of strange encounters in the official video for his new single If You Wanna Go. Directed by Ezra Simons the video brings a bizarre comedic sense to what is an otherwise serious musical offering from the Flight Of The Concords member.

Lifted from McKenzie's new full-length Songs Without Jokes, which will be released on August 26 by Sub Pop, If You Wanna Go is another example of the baroque pop stylings of McKenzie's solo material. 

If You Wanna Go follows the earlier single A Little Tune. Released in May, A Little Tune arrived with a video directed by Simons that presents McKenzie as a lounge singer, with the musician/actor/comedian instilling the role with some of his understated comedic stylings.

Despite the comedic elements present in both clips, Songs Without Jokes is as the title suggests a far more serious work from McKenzie. An early review from Uncut magazine suggests that the influence of the likes of Harry Nillson and Randy Newman is far more prevalent than the comedy one might have reasonably anticipated from the Flight Of The Concords star. An exert from the review declares that Songs Without Jokes is a "Baroque-pop delight. Evocative of Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman at their most extroverted. McKenzie's songs provide great warmth."

Speaking with The Guardian, McKenzie affirmed his sincere musical intentions for the album, revealing it was hard at first to not revert to the comedic instincts that made him a household name. "To try and not be funny was a curious songwriting challenge, when I started, I felt a little naked, because I think in comedy songs you’re hiding behind jokes. You don’t really open yourself up.”

McKenzie does concede that elements of his comedy do make their way into the record, noting "There’s still a bit of a lyrical playfulness that I find hard to resist, but it was interesting even starting to play these songs to other people and see they were all surprised – this is not what they were expecting.” 

Songs Without Jokes is available for preorder now via Sub Pop.