OK Go’s New Music Video for “I Won’t Let You Down” Won’t Let You Down

OK Go’s approach to music videos has been nothing short of pioneering, often generating visuals that are even more memorable than the songs they accompany. The band’s latest effort, for the single “I Won’t Let You Down” off their recently released album Hungry Ghosts, is brought to life by umbrella-wielding dancers and aerial videography. While they may never top their creation of the world’s largest Rube Goldberg machine, the results here are nonetheless impressive.

Some shots conjure Busby Berkeley, the Hollywood choreographer known for his mesmerizing bird’s-eye-view shots of synchronized swimmers and dancers. Others look like a life-sized Lite-Brite, using the opening and closing of colorful umbrellas to generate images and spell out words. The four band members cavort through the shots riding Honda UNI-CUBs, which are kind of like seated Segways that look uncannily like robotic penguins. Honda also contributed the “multi-copter” camera used to shoot the video.

The song itself is synth-heavy and dance-worthy, though ultimately less likely to stick with listeners than the video’s images. OK Go’s commitment to arresting visuals and feats of choreography is perhaps more responsible for their continued relevance than their songwriting. And as long as they keep up the creative videos—staying true to their promise not to let us down—then there’s nothing wrong with that.