Watch Sylvan Esso Perform “Ferris Wheel” On The Back Of A Moving Pickup Truck For Full Frontal
Next month, Sylvan Esso, the folksy dance-pop duo of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, will release their new album Free Love. Last night, the duo were musical guests on Samantha Bee’s Comedy Central show Full Frontal, a show that doesn’t often feature musical guests. They found a cool solution for the question of how to do an interesting late-night performance in the remote-video quarantine era: Singing on the back of a moving pickup truck.
On the show, Sylvan Esso — or at least Amelia Meath — sang the single “Ferris Wheel” while standing in the bed of a lightly battered truck as it slowly ambled down a rural dirt road. (I couldn’t tell whether Nick Sanborn was the one driving the truck, or even the one riding shotgun.) Meath sang over a backing track, and she may or may not have lip-synced much of it. But the performance itself was less important than the visual of the whole thing.
This thing looks beautiful. It all happens in in the golden hour, and it’s captured in one continuous drone shot. Dogs and pigs run alongside the truck. Fireworks go off. Meath radiates poise and charisma throughout. It’s not a music video, per se, but it might make for a better video than the actual “Ferris Wheel” video. Check it out below.
Free Love is out 9/25 on Loma Vista.