Watch a Tribute to the Loving Decision by the War on Drugs – The New Yorker

Earlier this month, the Philadelphia rock-and-roll band the War on Drugs announced the follow-up to 2014s Lost in the Dream, with Holding On, a six-minute American epic shimmering with rhythm and melody and delightful shades of early Springsteen. The song is from the forthcoming album A Deeper Understanding, and, yesterday, the band dbuted its new video, starring Frankie Faison, best known for his role as Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell, in David Simons The Wire.

The video, directed by Brett Haley, is a plainspoken, cinematic tribute to love, interracial marriage, and small-town American values. Faison appears as a widower struggling to break a cycle of boredom in his golden years. The concept was developed by the actress Krysten Ritter, who is dating the bands front man, Adam Granduciel. I went out to get our weekend coffees and when I came back Krysten had written up a whole treatment of her own and pitched me her idea, he wrote in an e-mail. I thought it was really great from the second she delivered it. Ritter had recently finished a movie with Haley, and she and Granduciel both suggested the director at the same time. They started shooting in Brewster, New York, just ten days later.

This week marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Courts Loving v. Virginia decision, which struck down anti-miscegenation laws in America. Interracial couples are celebrating the landmark case by sharing personal stories and testimonials online. The Holding On video, already a tearjerker, is a powerful addition to those contributions.

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Watch a Tribute to the Loving Decision by the War on Drugs - The New Yorker