If we stop and think about modern city life — from planes and subways to people sleeping in the streets to the lights of Times Square — it can all feel alien and disquieting. In this video for "Hang On," from a new album by the New York band CHAPPO, the main character is an astronaut who has landed in the big city. We observe him experiencing the newness of city life on earth in ways we often take for granted or view as mundane. That character in the astronaut suit is played by CHAPPO's lead singer, Alex Chappo.
The concept of the band's new album, Future Former Self, plays with time and the idea of the past and the future colliding. Alex Chappo told us via email that the astronaut's life is coming to an end: "A crashed space traveler from another time spends his last hours wandering New York City among the millions of people. Stranded and mystified, he feels the magnitude of loneliness and awe as he searches for a place to expire." The music is swirly and poppy — far more upbeat than the storyline — but that out-of-sync-ness somehow fits.
CHAPPO will be on tour with its new album, Future Former Self, for much of the summer.
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