Eye Candy: New Dakotas’ “Walking on Air”

On July 28th, 2018, the New Dakotas were playing a show in a roughly sixty square-foot basement in a house next to a storage facility in Allston, Massachusetts. Unsure of what to expect when we arrived, my friends and I made the trip into the city to see the show. The New Dakotas had a Lord of the Rings clip projecting on repeat behind them, and there were about 18 people in attendance. This past weekend, the Boston-based band made headlines on the likes of USA Today, Hollywood Reporter, Yahoo, and a number of other major news outlets. One might wonder how this sequence of events occurred, considering that none of the New Dakotas’ songs still have been streamed more than three thousand times on Spotify. The answer is their new music video for “Walking on Air,” a track off their April 4th-released EP, Marsh Street. The four-member band (all Harvard students) from Cambridge, Mass. was able to score a guest appearance from none other than Malia Obama, their fellow college classmate.
The video, a tragedy of sorts that chronicles lead guitarist/vocalist Chris Haley’s demise and eventual severance from the band, features a number of the band’s Harvard classmates and friends “auditioning” for the spot as the new fourth member of the band, alongside keyboardist Juan Carlos Fernandez Del Castillo, synth bassist Scott Roberts, and lead-singer/drummer Alasdair MacKenzie. Originally released on September 20th, the video was revised, and Malia’s cameo was unfortunately removed. While Malia Obama’s presence did gain the video massive publicity, as the third overall viewer, I believe the video itself is deserving of acclaim. Directed by David Grant (who also worked with the New Dakotas on their debut music video, “Hold That Pose”), the video features crisp, beautiful shots, an engaging storyline, and an aesthetically pleasing Wes Anderson-esque final sequence. While the group has benefited from a newfound notoriety that comes from their names appearing in the same headlines as the forty-fourth president’s daughter’s, the New Dakotas deserve acclaim for their dynamic songwriting and equally captivating visuals.

Want to see the New Dakotas live? Click here.