A companion piece to Bright Light Bright Light’s music video for “New York Pretty,” the first single from his new EP Tales of the City, “Into the Night” finds Welsh singer-songwriter Rod Thomas paying tribute to his adopted hometown of New York City. Along his route from Brooklyn to Manhattan, Thomas walks by the Williamsburg Bridge and queer landmarks like Stonewall.
If that description sounds strikingly similar to that of “New York Pretty,” it’s by design. Continuing Thomas’s fascination of all things cinema, the clips were inspired by the under-appreciated late-’90s romantic drama Sliding Doors, which examines the tiny variations that impact the multiverse and, more specifically, Gwyneth Paltrow’s love life. (The song itself was inspired by the 1985 thriller Into the Night, starring Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer.)
The videos for both “New York Pretty” and “Into the Night” see Thomas crossing paths with a beardy acquaintance in front of the historic West Village bar Julius’, renowned for being the city’s oldest gay bar (and for serving grilled cheese and burgers). In “Into the Night,” however, the man literally snags Thomas’s attention and the two make a romantic connection. The moral of the story? You never know what you’ll miss while you’re strutting down 10th Street lip-syncing to your new single.
Watch the Slant premiere of “Into the Night” below:
And watch “New York Pretty” here:
A digital EP with club remixes of “Into the Night” drops July 28th on Self Raising Records. Tales of the City is out now.
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