For a group of NYC transplants, The Mystery Lights have done an exceptional job capturing the city’s storied punk aesthetic. Mike Brandon and L.A. Solano, who have played side-by-side in a miscellany of bands since their teens, brought the band from sunny Salinas, California to New York about five years ago. Since their arrival, The Mystery Lights have developed a sound redolent of ‘60s garage rock, complete with jangly guitars, surfy basslines, and soda-bottled angst.

The band’s eponymous debut LP arrived last Friday via Daptone’s Wick Records imprint, and today Nerdist is premiering the psychedelic video for one of its singles, “Melt.” Solano explained its creation to us:

“Bob Gamber of The Vinyl Revolution (and drummer of Tomb Weaver) let me film ‘Melt’ at his shop in Monterey, Ca. He has always been a supporter of The Mystery Lights since day 1 so I thought it made sense for him to be the star of this video. I mainly wanted to see him play air guitar along with the solo. We have been in New York for 5 years now so it was good to bring things home to California for the video. I had to supplement my lack of animation skill with some story line and I think Bob and the gang came through with some stellar performances.”

The video (see above) takes us down a record store rabbit hole: broken records, phosphorescent paper collage, sunglasses-wearing animations of the band members’ floating heads, Gamber’s excellent beard (and air guitar skills), and a handful of other drug-addled imagery.

“I’m sick of being drunk / I’m so sick of being blind,” sings Brandon. “I regret every pill I took that wrapped a suffocating rope around my mind.”

But where would we be without the drugs? Not sitting on our computers watching this rad new video, that’s for sure. Give it a watch and check out their full LP here.

Featured Image: Sacha Lecca