Shock Machine Premieres “Unlimited Love” Video, Debut Self-Titled Album Out 8/25 via Marathon Artists

Shock Machine – James Righton’s kaleidoscopic, pop-tinged solo project – today premieres its new “Unlimited Love” video via The FADER. Filmed and directed by Righton himself alongside directorial newcomer Sam Taylor-Edwards, “Unlimited Love” was filmed between London and Bucharest. It was created under the mentorship of legendary video maker Sophie Muller (Beyonce, Coldplay, Gwen Stefani, Sade), who collaborated with Righton on the video and also delivered the final edit. The ‘Unlimited Love’ video follows previous acclaimed visual collaborations with the likes of Simon Amstell, Nova Dando and  Saam Farahmand.

“”Unlimited Love” is a Bonnie and Clyde, whatever-happens-we’ll-survive, us-against-the-world song. The title came first and after that I wanted a song that felt lyrically relentless and unbreakable. During the making of the video, I randomly bumped into someone who introduced me to Sophie Muller. I showed Sophie the video when it was just composed of the red studio shots. Sophie thought it needed more and suggested I film lots of footage of me wearing the suits in interesting locations while in Budapest. I then sent her my footage and she made an incredible edit splicing everything together. It was amazing to see that you don’t always need specific rules or a detailed brief to make a music video. She also gave me a master class in editing/grading so I’ve started making my own videos now. She’s pretty inspiring.”

“Unlimited Love” is taken from Shock Machine’s highly-anticipated, eponymous debut album, which will be released on August 25th via Marathon Artists. Also featuring previous singles “Shock Machine,” “Open Up The Sky” and “Lost In The Mystery,” Shock Machine was recorded in the south of France with producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence + The Machine, Haim), and mixed by Ben H Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, Deerhunter). It also features artwork by Rob Carmichael, famed for his work with the likes of Animal Collective, Panda Bear and Dirty Projectors. Released via Marathon Artists (home to Courtney Barnett, Jagwar Ma and Baaba Maal among others), the album is a collection of timeless pop music that embraces inspiration from decades of off-kilter greats – from Todd Rundgren and Dennis Wilson, to early Paul McCartney and Roxy Music – but reimagines them through an expansive, psychedelic 21st century lens to conjure up something truly modern; in James’ own words, “Elton John’s Benny & the Jets on acid”. The sense of an artist finding his own voice, unbothered by fashion or current notions of what’s hip is pretty hard to escape throughout: Shock Machine feels like an album powered by the giddy rush of someone falling head over heels in love with music again. Which is precisely what it is.

In other news, Righton recently collaborated with The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowland to write music for  BAFTA Award-winning director Joe Wright’sproduction of Brecht’s masterwork The Life of Galileo at London’s Young Vic Theatre. He also modelled (and DJ’d) alongside Savages’ Jehnny Beth and Dirt Hand’s Arun Roberts at  Gucci’s Resort 2018 show in Florence. In addition, Shock Machine’s self-titled track ‘Shock Machine’ recently featured on the credits for Billie JD Porter’s new four part music documentary series ‘Sound and Vision’on Channel 4 in the UK.