When visiting your hometown for the first time in a while, it's easy to simultaneously feel like a native and foreigner. The stilted smiles in family photos haven't changed, despite the thin layer of dust; however, you have. The surreal video for L.A. synth-pop trio ASHRR's single "Don't Wait Too Long" addresses the alienating power that memory and time have over a person's lifespan.
"This song is about a feeling you can't quite put your finger on," ASHRR's Steven Davis tells NPR Music. "There's a sense of longing, melancholy and hope embedded in the lyric; and a reminder of how easy it is falling prey to the illusion we have plenty of time to chase our dreams. Carpe diem."
The visual treatment directed by Keith Musil partners the phenomenon of returning home with the urgency to combat life passing you by. Starring Lindsay Musil (True Detective, UnREAL), the video's extraterrestrial protagonist spends a day wandering around a San Bernardino mountain town — complete with a skate session at the local roller rink — before mysteriously disappearing into the portal from which she arrived.
ASHRR's self-titled debut EP comes out Dec. 7 (pre-order).
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.