Mrzyk & Moriceau's hilariously psychedelic music video for The Avalanches

Travelling on the subway or underground isn’t great is it? Fluorescent lighting shocks your vision, you’re unable to see outside and panic often ensues if you can’t get a seat. Luckily, illustrators Mrzyk & Moriceau have reimagined the journey into a hilarious and psychedelic vision to the soundtrack of the summer Subways by The Avalanches.

This silly but wonderful music video was inspired by the New York subway in the 70s. “It had to look like a dangerous and stressful jungle with incredible characters. The idea was to escape from reality and go to something more strange, fantastical, with a little bit of humour,” the studio explains. That description pretty much nails this video. It’s full of crude imagery that you can’t help but giggle at, subways turned into love trains full of bubbles, infinity hot dogs, flare-wearing dudes mesmerised by the ladies…the list goes on.

The French duo explains working with The Avalanches who’ve released their first album since 2000 as free and easy. “They gave us some references for the video, Sesame Street style animation, 70s downtown NYC grit, The Last Days of Disco, The Warriors, but the scenes and characters come directly from our brains. We listened to their album a lot while we worked on the video.”

The illustrators’ knowledge of The Avalanches album Wildflower and the history of the band is clear throughout. As one of the first bands to consistently use sampling on a record, its references of films and popular culture is ideally visualised by Mrzyk & Moriceau.