Fialta is a California-based foursome composed of two married couples. The men, David Provenzano and Mike Leibovich, are also members of power pop mainstay, Sherwood. The resemblance stops there, though. Fialta traded the earnest emo sensibilities of the aughts for a balanced sound that evokes the touchstones of mixed male/female indie rock, namely The New Pornographers and The Decemberists.

Today Nerdist is premiering the band’s video for “Do the Best We Can,” a single from their upcoming record, Shadow of a Drought. The album’s name is derived from the oppressive drought that has been debilitating their home state for years. And that’s where the video begins. “California, I’ve always loved California,” says our narrator in Spanish. “Such a fascinating people! All those charming little half-baked anxieties. California.”

California’s drought is hardly one of those half-baked anxieties, though. The tragedy serves as the centerpiece for this entire album, in fact. “Shadow of a Drought wrestles with the implications of drought in our lives — spiritual, relational, environmental,” said Fialta’s Beth Clements. “With this in mind, the music video for ‘Do the Best We Can’ is a slightly satirical comment on marriage.”

Set in gorgeous San Luis Obispo, California, the video follows the two couples while they’re on vacation. It’s not some hackneyed portrait of Lady and the Tramp dinners and walks on the beach, though. It’s realistic. “Do the Best We Can” includes the full-on panoply of emotions that arise when couples go on vacation: “ennui, confusion, jealousy, boredom, passion.”

The music, too, conjures that same arsenal of feelings. Textures oscillate from sparse to dense as the song heaves onward, slow and steady, like the barren weight of drought. Vocal melodies, sung both apart and in unison, sing provincial quips like “beyond a shadow of a drought” and, all the while, Fialta is impressing upon us that fact that we must simply do the best we can.

“Do the Best We Can” is an excellent merger of two precious entities that require an open heart and vigilant attention: marriage and our environment. “The neon green landscape and wet, cloudy skies were key to getting the mood across,” Provenzano said of the video. “But what you can’t see is that just two weeks after we filmed the video, all that turned to brown again. We had this little gift of a wet winter. The footage captures a moment of healing, however brief, in the middle of a looming crisis.”

The band has created a special page for Nerdist readers to access a free four-song download. Shadow of a Drought arrives July 15.

Featured Image: Fialta