It’s been more than ten months since norc released their second single, “Arizona” from their 2019 EP with ginseng and honey—the single that we had all assumed would bring the band a wealth of riches and the refreshing, thirst-quenching taste of an Arizona Ice Tea sponsorship. Now, with the release of a new video, we’re left wondering might have gone wrong.
Sometimes the smallest of details can rope you in and leave you fixated. In the case of norc’s “Arizona” it was the moment the fridge was opened. Already bathed in the vaporware glow customary of their live sets, in less than a minute, Christiana Armstrong, the band’s vocalist, has made her way to the fridge and there I paused.
I spent a full three minutes—enough time to have completely watched the video—trying to work out the contents of her fridge; apples, almond milk, ketchup, a can of something… and one solitary Arizona ginseng and honey iced tea. With its label turned from us, the product is just barely distinguishable by its distinctive $1.29 price tag.
It is clearly not the roaring endorsement they might have hoped for.
It’s the telltale work of a scorned lover. The less-than-delicate reminder of what they just might have had if they’d been a little more attentive.
It’s also the work of director Jo Cyr-Neighbor, as part of the Nova Scotia Community College Screen Arts program.
“Basically, we were reached out to by the Film Arts students at NSCC and being NSCC students,” says drummer Ryan Holland. “Desperate for a music video we decided to collab on a video for their project! The narrative is their idea. It’s basically a quick glimpse through the five stages of grief; all colour-coded with norc-style lighting. It looks very cool.”
It’s the second such project we’ve seen come out of NSCC, with Voodoo Sometimes’ “Hummingbird’s Vice” being released through the program back in March.
norc say they also have another video that is currently in the works, this one directed, filmed, edited by drummer Ryan Holland, but have yet to announce a release date.