The Secret History, ‘Eleanor (The City & Sea)’ – Video Premiere

The Secret History have a new video for ‘Eleanor (The City & Sea),’ the second single off their latest album, ‘Americans Singing In the Dark.’ The clip matches the New York City crew's post-pop sound -- inspired, says frontman Michael Grace Jr., by the likes of Blondie and Dexy’s Midnight Runners -- by offering an equally vintage feel. It captures the band performing on a stark black backdrop as text images interject throughout.

The song is intended to capture the spirits of both New York City and London, where lead singer Lisa Ronson currently resides.

“I wanted to bring the energy of the two cities together in a couple different ways in the song to kind of represent Lisa and I’s partnership and bond,” Grace tells Diffuser.fm.

Grace also directed the clip, which was filmed on a soundstage in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He designed the colorful text flashes alongside his wife, Laura Kunkel, drawing inspiration from two rather disparate sources.

“[Massimo] Vignelli’s 1973 NYC Subway map is such an iconic use of Helvetica," he says. "I wanted to reference that while also touching upon the acid-house use of it during the early ‘90s."

Toward the end of the video, a series of these text images includes an upside-down Pacman ghost with a pre-9/11 NYC skyline substituting for the bottom of the original design.

“The record is mainly about me and my friends surviving this new century in New York, and that symbol, while a bit cheeky, actually says a good deal about the song,” Grace says.