A first look at Flobots "Rise" video

Flobots' new video rises to the occasion.

Just in time for their spate of performances at the DNC in the coming weeks, Flobots have unveiled their new video for "Rise" on MTV's website. The four-minute clip, which opens with a brief, establishing aerial shot of the Denver skyline, prominently features the band and its associates emerging from the shadows draped in the group's trademark stars-and-stripes bandannas throughout. Interspersed with frames of the act performing in front of an oversized map of the United States (on stage at the Gothic, where it was filmed) are montages of the members interacting with kids in a classroom setting, handing out shovels from the back of a truck, ostensibly to aid in the weeding and planting of a community garden, and pasting up fliers touting their website, AmericaWillBe.org.

The combination of starkly colored images and Jamie Laurie's dependably steadfast rhymes effectively encapsulates what Flobots are all about ("What's in your alleyway, recycling bins or bullet casings?" he demands as a shovel is thrust into the dirt, presumably a nod to the outfit's get-your-hands-dirty, grassroots approach to community activism). As the song crescendos with the refrain "If you believe in redemption calling to you from another dimension, rise!" the video concludes with group shots of the various organizations segued into footage of the members and their cohorts planting flowers. All in all, it makes for some pretty powerfully cohesive imagery. See for yourself below. -- Dave Herrera