Years & Years have announced details of the world premiere of their ‘Palo Santo’ short film, which will take place at a secret London location this Thursday (June 13th). Tickets for the film are available when pre-ordering the album at YearsandYears.lnk.to/PSStoreTW.
Directed by Fred Rowson and starring Olly Alexander, Dame Judi Dench, Ben Wishaw and cult Thai actor Vithaya Pansringarm, this bold new short film digs deeper into the unique world of Years & Years’ second album, ‘Palo Santo’. The record takes its name from a sacred wood, but in this densely woven fictional backstory, Palo Santo has become a city on a distant planet; one where human beings are a rare commodity, worshipped and idolized by an android society. Olly, along with the final humans, is recruited to perform in a series of bizarre erotic cabarets, for an artificial master known only as The Showman. Introduced in the videos to ‘Sanctify’ and ‘If You’re Over Me’, the ‘Palo Santo’ short film also acts as a reunion of sorts for Olly, Judi and Ben, who all starred in a London production of John Logan’s play ‘Peter & Alice’ back in 2013.
Part full-blooded, escapist fantasia and part social comment, ‘Palo Santo’ confirms Years & Years’ ascension to the world stage. Quickly-rising new single ‘If You’re Over Me’ already shows signs of being the band’s most infectious, universal song to date, acutely chronicling those difficulties of staying friends with an ex (and the emotional torture that ensues). With Olly drawing as much inspiration from cult sci-fi as the multi-sensory pop of Prince, Bowie or Gaga, in ‘Palo Santo’ Years & Years have created the perfect space in which to tell these most intimate, personal stories; on identity, sexuality, performance, and ultimately, what it means to be human.