Making their way back into our niche corner of world, the Van Pelt had taken a very long and winding one when the cult beloved indie-emo rockers returned in 2023 with Artisans & Merchants, their first album in 26 years. When you’re traveling roads less taken at a pace designed on your own timeline, however, that only makes the story of the journey all the more remarkable to hear. It remains true on “Kris Is Riding Horses In Ojai”, the first single from the seminal second wavers’ next post-reunion effort, Remain Obscure.

Uncanny may even be a better word, as frontman Chris Leo’s sing-spoken dialogue with his audience juggles remnants of relics they consider the Berlin Wall, questions the mythos of Babel, and keeps tabs on friends in Karlstad, rest stops off I-95, Grand Rapids, and the titular Ojai in surreal analogy form. “There are many different ways in which our tower will be built,” he concludes, as a jet-set squalor of art-rock with a post-hardcore drive maps out the quartet’s latest exploratory detour across the grid. Welcome to the dimension-collapsed world as experienced through the Van Pelt’s eyes.

Directed by: Aaron Ray

The Van Pelt’s Remain Obscure will be released September 18th on Ernest Jenning Record Co.