With behind-the-scenes images shot by Nadia Lee Cohen, Charlie Denis’s new music video for Stolen Nova glamorises British culture – and the “piss-filled alleys of Chinatown”
“Lauren Bacall (the song) is about the awkwardness of single life and one night stands … and then love at first sight,” says musician Stolen Nova, whose new music video sees him cavorting around a nostalgic version of London. Directed by Charlie Denis – who describes the music video as “a trailer to a movie that doesn’t exist” – Josh Landau (the frontman of Stolen Nova) voyages through England’s capital; travelling on the London underground, popping in and out of red telephone boxes with call girl cards that come to life, playing darts in the pub, or playing guitar in a bed decked out with Union Jack sheets.
Denis hails from London, but Landau is from Los Angeles – and the music video depicts an idealised, foreigner’s version of the city in all its patriotic glory. “I originally wanted to shoot a video with Josh in Los Angeles because my fascination with LA is akin to his with London, and being from here, my eyes are too familiar and therefore apathetic to the sights that a California babe like him would find exotic,” says Denis. “But it was fun to run around London with someone else’s goggles on and almost experience its charm for the first time again.”
The city’s charm, however, is not for everyone. “We ran around town in the freezing cold middle of the night and stood in piss-filled alleys in Chinatown shooting between bursts of rain to capture this vision he had for me and this song,” explains Landau. Still, “I couldn't be more grateful,” he says. “He literally makes cinematic magic happen.”