Nap Eyes’ LP The Neon Gate, takes its title and text from a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865–1939). In 1922, as the Irish Civil War raged, Yeats wrote his “Meditations in Time of Civil War” while summering in Thor Ballylee, a Norman tower. In the final section of this visionary poem, tortuously titled “I See Phantoms of Hatred and of the Heart’s Fullness and of the Coming Emptiness,” the poet climbs “to the tower-top” to survey (or conjure) a fantastical scene involving, among other things, ladies riding “magical unicorns,” Babylonian prophecies, and Jacques Molay (the final grand master of the Knights Templar, burned at the stake in 1314 for his supposed heresy and homosexuality). “Frenzies bewilder, reveries perturb the mind,” Yeats writes. “Monstrous familiar images swim to the mind’s eye.” The Neon Gate is now out on Paradise of Bachelors (Steve Gunn) and Paper Bag Records (Art d’Ecco)

The video for this track, the first to follow the album’s release on October 18, finds songwriter Nigel Chapman—now having, perhaps, passed through The Neon Gate—wandering through a pastoral cemetery, a postmodern disciple of Yeats contemplating mortality and nature, and undercutting that self-serious persona in scenes goofing around and performing live with his three bandmates, Brad Lahead, Josh Salter, and Seamus Dalton. After the surreality of the hand-animated “Dark Mystery Enigma Bird” video by Dr. Cool and the similarly psychedelic, partially animated series of four visuals and shorts for the album singles “Feline Wave Race,” “Ice Grass Underpass,” “Demons” (like “Phantoms” a literary adaptation, this time of a Pushkin poem), “Passageway,” and “Eight Tired Starlings—all of which feature only guitarist Brad Lahead—the “Phantoms” video finally offers an intimate glimpse of the entire band inhabiting a more anchored, recognizable “real world,” albeit one with typically humorous, skewed details.

Director and DP Ana-Maria Espino Trudel explains her inspirations and process: “I had this idea to shoot with a drone as if it were a steadicam, to create an ethereal sense of movement that felt otherworldly, matching the spirit of the song. Josh [Salter, bassist] suggested the main location, and we found this sprawling field filled with flowers next to a cemetery. For the rest of the video, we used a mix of slow motion to give it a dreamy quality and lo-fi digital cameras to evoke an intimate home video feeling.”

Nap Eyes 2024-2025 Tour Dates

Dec 27th – Halifax – Propellor Arcade
Jan 20th – Vancouver – Green Auto
Jan 21st – Calgary – The Palomino
Jan 22nd – Edmonton – Rocky Mountain Ice House
Jan 24th – Winnipeg – Sidestage
April 30,2025 – New York @ Brooklyn Steel w/ MJ Lenderman
May 1st – NYC – Baby’s All Right
May 7, 2025 – London @ The Lexington
May 11, 2025 – Birmingham @ Hare & Hounds
May 12, 2025 – Manchester @ YES
May 13, 2025 – Glasgow @ The Hug & Pint
May 14, 2025 – Leeds @ Hyde Park Book Club
May 16, 2025 – Brussels @ Les Nuits Botanique
May 17, 2025 – Amsterdam @ London Calling
May 18, 2025 – Utrecht @ Ekko
May 19, 2025 – Rotterdam @ Renée
May 20, 2025 – Köln @ Bumann & SOHN
May 21, 2025 – Hamburg @ Nachtasyl
May 22, 2025 – Berlin @ Schokoladen
May 23, 2025 – Schorndorf @ Manufaktur
May 24, 2025 – Freiburg @ Swamp
May 28, 2025 – San Sebastian @ Dabadaba
May 29, 2025 – Ourense @ Sala El Torgal
May 30, 2025 – Lisbon @ ZDB
June 1 2025 – Valencia @ Loco Club

Order The Neon Gate HERE