San Cisco Releases New Single and Video for “Under The Light”
August 10, 2023 BY Jason Currell
Australian indie titans San Cisco release their latest single “Under The Light,” an irresistible and infectious, sun-drenched dance anthem. Listen HERE and watch HERE.
Co-written with Jay Watson (GUM, Pond, Tame Impala), new single “Under the Light” careens with piston-like momentum, striking the delicate balance between euphoria and melancholy. What began as something more closely related to Sia’s ‘Chandelier’, “almost like a bad girl party anthem, a sweaty nightclub scenario, and regretting things the next day,” eventually revealed itself as much more profound throughout the writing process. “We thought about a club where at the end of the night the lights come up and the truth is revealed. It became a metaphor for having a spotlight on us as people, and discovering hard truths about growing up,” drummer Scarlett Stevens says. “I thought by this age I’d probably have everything sorted, but really it’s just as much of a mess as it’s ever been. Actually more so!”
“For our third single ‘Under The Light’ we teamed up with director Caely Wesson again to bring you this Aquatic-themed, coastal beach rave, shot in and around the ruins of a bygone Perth theme park, Atlantis,” San Cisco explain. Shot on location at Atlantis, the now abandoned but once thriving theme park in Perth, WA, the official video clip for “Under The Light” see’s the Fremantle locals dancing around the huge King Neptune statue that was adored by locals but is now a relic. Fascinated by the lost oceanic world of Atlantis and the ancient alien race believed to have lived in it, Director Caely Wesson explains the location, “conjured a lost mythical world and the perfect playground for ‘Under the Light’ with its key lyric blurring the lines of what is real. (Is it fake or is it love?).” On the creative process, Caely adds, “I worked with editor James Medlam to cut the footage once again, taking a few cues from Honeycomb layered with some cool vintage footage, some of which we found in the WA archives. I love that the two videos can exist side by side, almost as an ode to the landscapes of WA and a meeting of land and sky.”
“Under The Light” only adds to the anticipation for what’s to come from the new Fremantle trio as they enter a new phase of maturity, vulnerability and experimentation. San Cisco took to their socials in May to share they’d finally finished up on a long few months deep in studio sessions split between LA and Fremantle recording the trio’s fifth studio album, a collaborative work with producer James Ireland (Pond, Cuco) and mixed by Grammy award winning engineer Neal H. Pogue (Steve Lacy, Tyler The Creator, Outkast) and Anthony Dolhai (Mø, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kesha).
Throughout their illustrious ten-year career indie-pop three-piece San Cisco have become one of Australia’s most successful independent artists amassing multiple accolades. Garnering millions of streams and critical acclaim through the release of four studio albums, San Cisco have toured the world selling out headline shows and appearing at festivals such as Splendour In The Grass, Lollapalooza, Reading & Leeds and many more. San Cisco’s fourth studio album Between You and Me in late 2020 – an album two years and at least one sadly remembered love affair in the making – reached top three in the ARIA Album Charts and featured leading Hottest 100 charting singles ‘When I Dream’, ‘Skin’, festival anthem ‘Reasons’ and ‘On The Line’. Album five on its way in 2024.
Renowned for their high-energy live show, San Cisco have taken the stage at this year’s Bass In The Grass (NT), Dream Machine (Bali), Be Social Fest (QLD), Melbourne’s Formula 1 Grand Prix (VIC) and over the weekend headlined the FIFA Fan Festival in Adelaide (SA). With no signs of slowing down, San Cisco were also recently announced to be playing the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix in September of this year.
Coming in at #35 with their cover of Daft Punk & Pharrell’s “Get Lucky“, and #52 with their cover of Clairo’s “4ever” in triple j’s the recent Hottest 100 of Like A Versions, San Cisco were also recently nominated for the Reader’s Choice Awards at the 2023 Rolling Stone Awards alongside Lime Cordiale, CXLOE, Tones & I and more.
