Google and Arcade Fire have teamed up on an HTML5-powered music video for the We Used To Wait from the band’s new album, The Suburbs. The curious partnership is entitled The Wilderness Downtown and taps into Google Maps to make your childhood home the star of the show…
Load up The Wilderness Downtown in Google Chrome and you’ll be treated to a splurge of windows bouncing around the screen with moments from the We Used To Wait video and a seriously clever bit of Google Maps integration.
Before you play Google and Arcade Fire collaboration, you’re asked for the postcode of your childhood home. The HTML5-powered site then uses images of the location pulled from Google Maps to show the video’s main character running through the streets and finally, trees growing in and then swamping your hometown.
We also liked the fact that you can write/draw a message to your younger self made up of tree branches which birds flock to. When the Arcade Fire track has finished, you can send your message as a virtual postcard.
Arcade Fire and Google definitely deserve some props for making the most inventive music video we’ve seen in yonks. The video is pretty processor hungry though so make sure you close down other programs before you set it going.
Hit the comments to let us know what you think of the Google/Arcade Fire tie-up and send us recommendations for your favourite new music videos on the web.
Out now | £free | The Wilderness Downtown
