Pissed Jeans - Moving On

JUL 01 2024 · 12:00

Pissed Jeans - Moving On (2024) Director: Joe Stakun Era: Post-Pandemic Indie Punk Revival (2023–2025) - Noise rock and post-hardcore acts returning after extended hiatuses with sharpened socially critical aesthetics and deliberately lo-fi, absurdist video production High curatorial value as a confirmed, well-documented 2024 noise rock single video representing the peak of a sustained, multi-video directorial collaboration between Joe Stakun and Pissed Jeans. Constitutes a primary document of Sub Pop's 2020s underground punk visual identity and a strong example of how contemporary punk video production uses deliberate lo-fi aesthetics, absurdist humor, and unglamorous staging as intentional cultural positioning. Suitable for Tier 1.5 archival treatment given critical reception, label significance, and director pedigree. Context: Released January 8, 2024 as the lead single for Pissed Jeans' sixth album 'Half Divorced' (Sub Pop, March 1, 2024), 'Moving On' marked the Philadelphia band's first new music since 2017's 'Why Love Now', a seven-year gap bridging pre- and post-pandemic underground punk culture. The video and single arrived at a moment of renewed critical interest in noise rock and post-hardcore, with the album thematically addressing the tensions between youthful optimism and adult mundanity. Stakun's absurdist visual approach mirrors the band's acerbic lyrical humor, embedding punk performance within comedy-inflected situational chaos that aligns with a broader 2020s trend of punk acts embracing self-aware, lo-fi video aesthetics as cultural critique. Director notes: Stakun is a frequent and long-standing collaborator with Pissed Jeans, having directed prior videos including 'Romanticize Me,' 'Bathroom Laughter,' 'Boring Girls,' 'The Bar Is Low,' and 'Cling to a Poison Dream' in addition to 'Moving On.' His 2018 Pissed Jeans video 'The Bar Is Low' was featured in The New Yorker. The 'Moving On' video was produced with DP Drew Saracco, Art Direction by Hannah Hamilton, edited by Dan Colanduno, and color by Ryan Berger. The production was supported by Federal Grip and Expressway Cine. The concept follows the band performing live in a warehouse/hangar while absurdist, mundane events unfold around them, a format consistent with Stakun's dark-humor-driven, comedy-inflected approach to punk music videos.