At this point, after numerous premieres, record reviews, news blurbs, and one artist profile, we must admit we’ve started to run out of superlatives for CHEW. Always innovating, consistently challenging, and seemingly forever on tour, the Atlanta trio have long been among the city’s most active and enthralling bands. But big talent and endless drive don’t always add up to good fortune. Take their recent European tour, for example. One night they’re playing a raucous show in Copenhagen, and the next morning they wake up to find most of their gear stolen. There’s a backstory here, of course, (the group suspects a disgruntled venue employee tipped off the thieves), but my point in mentioning it is that rather than dwelling on their misfortune, CHEW, much as they always have, decided to take action and move forward with confidence and positivity.

“We did a GoFundMe, even though I hate those things,” says multi-instrumentalist Brett Reagan, a.k.a. Bresh Raygun. “We’ve never done anything like that, even when we probably should have. In almost 24 hours our friends, family, and haters donated a ton of money and we happened to have the time to stop at Music Store in Cologne, Germany and replace everything that was replaceable. It sucked but it was early enough in the tour that we were able to brush it off and keep it moving. That was the first time in 10 years we have ever had anything stolen. Fuck it, it’s over. Onward and upwards.”

Given that outlook, it should come to nobody’s surprise that once they returned home, the group didn’t seek out rest. Instead, they jumped right back into working on their next album. Entitled Found Footage, the new LP will no doubt find the experimental threesome exploring an array of new sonic avenues. This is exemplified by the looping, prismatic “Horseheads,” the video for which we’re excited to premiere today.

Featuring vocals, samples, and scratches from Day Tripper of The Difference Machine, the track contracts and expands in all manner of mind-bending ways. It’s the pair’s first collaboration, which, honestly, feels a bit surprising. If there are a multitude of parallel dimensions within the local scene universe, CHEW and The Difference Machine exist in ones that closely intersect. Both groups travel in similar orbits and write heady, psychedelic-forward music that relishes in breaking conventions. Here, their far-out chemistry is on full display with CHEW’s billowing, anxiety-laced contortions serving as a launching pad for Day Tripper’s veil-piercing lyricism.

Shot by Nick Bach and created and edited by Psensibil, the video mirrors the song’s restless energy with a barrage of duotone imagery that’s endlessly evolving and rarely comes into full focus. The strobing lights and parade of trails only add to the clip’s hallucinogenic haze. Much like the music, there are a lot of details to parse through with each layer bleeding through and building into the next. What stands out, at least for me, is this collision of cosmic forces and how cohesive this collaboration sounds. According to Reagan, it’s a partnership that’s long been in the making.

“We had been trying to get DT on a track for years and the timing was just right for us both to work on something,” he reveals. “I think we share a similarity when it comes to the way we see the world. We knew he would encapsulate the perfect feeling and give breath to the words we never speak.”

Watch/listen above.

Found Footage will be out this fall, sometime near Halloween.

More Info
Web: 3dchew.com
Bandcamp: 3dchew.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @3dchew
Instagram: @3dchew
SoundCloud: @3dchew
Twitter: @3dchew