New Order — Round and Round

JUL 01 1989 · 12:00

New Order — Round and Round (1989) Director: Paula Greif Era: Late Madchester / Balearic Crossover (1989) - Post-punk electronic acts bridging Factory Records' austere aesthetic with Ibiza-inflected house, during New Order's most commercially peak period with the Technique album cycle High curatorial value as a Factory Records primary artifact representing the 1989 Technique era — New Order's commercial peak and the label's last major cultural moment before its 1992 collapse. The video is a rare example of fine-art portraiture aesthetics applied to house-crossover pop at the precise historical fulcrum between post-punk and rave culture. Its deliberate formal restraint, non-narrative structure, and director Paula Greif's photography-informed visual language make it an essential document for collections focused on UK independent label video production, electronic music visual culture, and late-1980s avant-pop aesthetics. Context: Released 27 February 1989 on Factory Communications Ltd., 'Round & Round' arrived at the apex of New Order's commercial and creative synthesis of post-punk and Balearic house, consolidated on the Technique album (recorded in Ibiza, 1988). The video's deliberate refusal to feature band members was consistent with Factory Records' anti-celebrity, art-object ethos — a philosophy shaped by Peter Saville's graphic design practice and Tony Wilson's cultural provocations. The fast-cut editorial rhythm (avg 2.67s/shot) mirrored the acceleration of UK club culture in the immediate pre-Second Summer of Love context, while the fine-art portraiture aligned the band with the fashion-editorial world bridging pop and gallery space. The warm color temperature inserts and spinning object motifs anticipated the lysergic visual language that would fully emerge in early 1990s rave-era video production. Director notes: Directed the official 1989 promotional video for New Order's 'Round & Round,' the second single from the album Technique (Factory Records / Qwest / Warner). The video was produced by Michael Shamberg and edited by Glenn Lazzaro and Laura Israel. The production eschews any band performance in favor of an abstract concept: close-up black-and-white portraits of female models intercut with brief colorized flash sequences of spinning objects (flowers, marbles), creating a visual metaphor for the song's cyclical theme. The approach drew contemporary comparisons to Andy Warhol's Screen Tests. An alternate US version of the video also exists. Duration of the official video is 3:55 (234.76s in archival file).