When of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes is your hookup to breaking into the U.S. market, you know you’ve got something special. Such is the case with one of Polyvinyl’s newest undertakings, Casiokids. Up until now, this Norwegian band has been Europe’s best kept secret, and now they’re bringing the American audience all they’ve got with their brand new video for “Finn Bikkjen!”

It may seem easy to get lost in translation when a band is singing completely in Norwegian. But that’s not entirely the case with Casiokids and their video for “Finn Bikkjen!” In actuality, the video at its simplest translates what the title of the song is exactly. What you see is a young man who loses his dog at the very beginning of the clip and, while chasing his pet in his pajamas, runs into bizarrely dressed figures that somehow control him via dance sequences. He is completely hallucinating in the middle of the woods despite the calm in his face, and falls in and out of bouts of sleep while playing what is ultimately hide and seek with his dog. His journey finds him in a state of dreams within dreams. The next thing you know, it’s his dog that finds him, and he falls back into a state of euphoric slumber.

The “Finn Bikkjen!” video is a visual interpretation of a song that, at first, seems lost in Casiokids’ native tongue. But the music speaks for itself: “Finn Bikkjen!” is an infectious track loaded with poppy synths and translates simply to “find the dog.” The psychedelic video – and equally psychedelic song – makes sense when you realize it’s about how the dog is a best friend and how the owner vows never to lose him again.

Indeed, Casiokids aim to leave a lasting impression with this video. It’s hard to expect anything less from a band who were standouts at this year’s South By Southwest and make music ideal for dance parties (consider that the quartet were named after beat-up old keyboards that inspired their club-ready sound). You can find “Finn Bikkjen!” off of Casiokids’ newest LP, Topp stemning på lokal bar, which was released earlier this summer. Polyvinyl raves that the upbeat album is the first Norwegian-language pop music ever to be released in the U.S. On the other hand, Pitchfork.com honed in on the fact that, “The record has a unified vibe and a strong sense of balance, but also varies greatly from track to track. … Nothing feels throwaway – the passion and the new ideas are always there.”

Thanks to the Polyvinyl crew for bringing us this trippy clip by Casiokids. If you need more info, call Andy Gesner at 732-613-1779 or e-mail us at HIPVideo@aol.com. You can also visit www.PolyvinylRecords.com or www.Casiokids.com to find out more about Casiokids.

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