David Arthur directs a wild, offbeat promo for Scottish alt-rock veterans Arab Strap. 

Having worked with the iconoclastic duo on Strawberry Moon a couple of years ago, the video for Glamour Magick brings the same sense of B-movie, body horror fun. 

It follows a beard-stroking ASMR livestreamer - played by the band's Aidan Moffatt - who dodges payment for cosmetic surgery, setting off a chain of cult-like rituals and events. Suddenly his serious cosmetic surgeon - with the band's Malcolm Middleton playing her ginger wigged assistant - turns out to have a sideline in Satanism and whilst in post-op bandages, important parts of Aidan start falling off. 

Its a darkly comic tale, showcasing a classic stream of consciousness rant from Moffatt on the indignity of ageing in the track, and also David Arthur's strengths in terms of storytelling and character-building, as also seen recently in his video for Songraes.

"I was so pleased to be asked to work with Arab Strap again - but when I heard this new track I was a bit intimidated," he reveals. "It’s so hilarious, pacy and full on lyrically, I realised the video had to be pretty wild…

"The band said 'wild sounds good'.  So with the concept for this I leaned into the song’s main theme of the absurd things some people do to try to delay the ageing process, with some satanism and voodoo thrown in the mix…

"I still can’t quite believe the duo’s openness to being put in ridiculous situations most indie pop stars wouldn’t touch in a million years. Having done a lot of work as an editor on music videos over the years, I know how precious some bands can be and Arab Strap are unique in this way. I kept expecting Aidan to say 'I’m not sitting on a toilet' or 'I’m not crawling up those stairs,' but that never happened and Malcolm would often say: 'anything for the shot'.

"Producer Niamh West helped put together a team that I think took us to another level in terms of putting money on-screen. It was my first time ever working directly with a production designer. Usually that is me running around with a bag of stuff borrowed or picked up second hand, and Rhianonne Stone was amazing, every daft thing I asked for she sorted from a red light mask, to surgical tools, to a life-sized skeleton with a grey beard…

"Similarly with our costume designer Holly Firkins: she jumped at the chance to make our glorious demonic Highland cow mask, and she made the costumes really pop with suggestions like red gloves for the surgical outfits and many other details that really added a lot.

Brooklyn Harnish our hair and makeup also did amazing things styling Malcolm’s cheap wig, the makeup for actor Jenny Ryan and crafting a low-budget bloody eyeball for us.

"Working with cinematographer Darren Hercher is one of the great pleasures of me trying my hand at directing in these short form projects. He’s a filmmaker too, from a documentary background, so he’ll frequently see unscripted details like when Aidan was taking selfies on his phone whilst he had full bandages on between takes, which fitted with the character Aidan was playing. Darren will also indulge my random ideas like getting him on the surgery bed shooting upwards while our ‘surgeons’ loomed over him and lumps of fake flesh were thrown around, or rigging the camera inside a bin.

"The grade for this was beautifully executed by colourist Iain Pennington and he really elevated the whole thing with added texture, shaping and subtle colour work."

Brilliant, inspired work and another standout video from the creative team.