A transfusion of oversaturated visual stimulants, “Supernormal” penetrates and contorts the senses. Everything Everything’s first single since releasing their fifth studio album, 2020’s Re-Animator, “Supernormal,” takes new form as the band traverse a new norm in a virtual world.
Videos by American Songwriter
Directed by Jonathan Higgs, who also helmed the band’s videos for “In Birdsong,” “Planets” and “Arch Enemy” in 2020, the frontman utilizes his newfound skills in digital animation—working with softwares Blender, Mixamo, and MakeHuman—something he’s gradually mastered in lockdown following the pandemic.
“At this point, I’d learned texturing, modeling, rigging, animating, how virtual cameras and lights work,” says Higgs, “so the path to creating ‘Supernormal’ was a matter of putting it all together, alongside some new experiments in physics simulations.”
Drawing on Higgs recent videos and other visual elements, the band recently celebrated the release of Re-Animator, their follow up to 2017’s A Fever Dream, by playing two virtual reality concerts, which allowed fans to interact in real time with the band and other fans, fly around a virtual theater, and wear virtual merchandise.
“Supernormal” is something supernatural. As twisted as its rapidly shifting scenes, “Supernormal” is locked around mostly grotesque free-falling, dancing figures, hurtling through the tracks’s frenzied state—I want the biggest that you got (a stomach lining in the bin) / Stretching my lips over my teeth (you slide all over everything) / My bloodshot eyes are bulging out (you made that problem for yourself).
“The idea was to make dozens of tiny, explosive shots of action, ugly and extreme naked characters being distorted, surreal objects and animals, oversaturated colors, bright lights—all these impossible, grotesque images coming at you far too fast to comprehend,” says Higgs. “I adjusted and experimented until I saw things that excited or disgusted me, then repeated the process over and over again until I was satisfied.”
For Higgs, “Supernormal” stays within a new realm the band is experimenting in, a virtual existence around music, live performance, and art.
“‘Supernormal’ is about supernormal stimuli, highly exaggerated triggers that create a stronger reaction in us than evolution ever intended,” shares Higgs. “Our animal brains can’t help but reach for the bigger, brighter, tastier, sexier, bloodier, more intense experiences. I wanted to create an extremely overwhelming experience in this song and video, it’s about being a slave to our instincts no matter how extreme they become.”
