Nov 10, 2022
By Caleb Campbell
Photography by Christopher Fenimore
Earlier this fall, New York indie band altopalo returned with their latest LP, frenemey, their third since their 2018 debut, frozenthere, and last year’s follow-up, farawayfromeveryoneyouknow. frenemy once again finds the band blurring the lines between R&B, electronica, rock, and jazz, folding them all into a uniquely expansive and challenging sound, all while delivering lyrical deconstructions of friendship, relationships, and masculinity.
The full album is out now, and following the record’s release the band have shared a live performance video for “petty i know,” premiering with Under the Radar.
The band’s latest video strips back the chilly electronics and pristine harmonies from the original, trading them in for a warm, vital, and organic presentation. They start rolling with the band all around a table, mid-game in Settlers of Catan, all of them trading jabs and laughs before guitarist Mike Haldeman introduces the song’s winding guitar lines. From Rahm Silverglade vocals to drummer Dillon Treacy and bassist Jesse Bielenberg’s steady percussive groove, every bit of it feels seamless, played with an effortless cool. The track also gets a burst of unexpected intensity near the end with a searing guitar solo, offering a brilliant finale to the video and a final showcase of the band’s one-of-a-kind chemistry.
The band explains of the video’s inspirations, “This video takes place around a table that means so much to us. We have played hundreds of hours of games, drafted tracklists, written personal journal entries, been at each other’s throats, signed tax documents, cried, eaten meals with parents, & sat in silence. The video is a playful interpretation of our insecurities & our petty comparison with one another. When someone else succeeds, we can see our failures instead of their successes. That’s whack but that’s the chimera.
We got to make a mess & get loud & we definitely actually played an hour of Settlers of Catan just for the sake of the prop being properly set up.”
Check out the song and video below. frenemy is out everywhere now via Nettwerk.