Synopsis

A quartet of horses races across a stark desert landscape in hypnotic slow motion, dragging long ropes behind them. The video gradually reveals that the ropes are connected to metal plates embedded in a brightly decorated triangular structure. Intercut with the equestrian footage, the Scissor Sisters appear drenched in vivid pink, yellow, green, and blue paint, with the liquid shown cascading in reverse. As the horses pull harder, the ropes tighten, the plates are torn away, and paint erupts from the structure in a colorful finale.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released on April 19, 2012, shortly after "Only the Horses" became the first single from the album *Magic Hour*.

• The song was made with Calvin Harris and Boys Noize, giving the track its progressive-house direction and the video a suitably kinetic, high-impact visual concept.

• Jake Shears was covered in pink paint, Del Marquis in yellow, Babydaddy in green, and Ana Matronic in blue.

• The paint sequences were filmed in slow motion and then played backward, creating the effect of the band members being assembled from falling color.

• The video was shot at the same time as the band's "Baby Come Home" video. The production team had to complete the paint scenes for one video and the green-screen material for the other during the same studio day.

• The closing image, with the horses pulling apart the decorated structure, recalls the destructive horse imagery associated with John Huston's 1961 film *The Misfits*.