Synopsis

The video places Béatrice Martin and Jay Malinowski in a sun-blasted California desert, alternating performance shots with scenes of the pair together amid stark Southwestern locations. Its faded, grainy look, vintage styling, and mariachi-inflected atmosphere give the clip a cinematic western character. The romantic imagery plays against lyrics about lovers separated by conflict, turning the landscape into a warm but slightly haunted backdrop for a relationship that feels both intimate and imperiled.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Mission Bells" was the first music video released by Armistice, the short-lived collaboration between Martin, also known as Coeur de Pirate, and Malinowski of Bedouin Soundclash.

• The clip was released on February 4, 2011, shortly before the duo's self-titled five-track EP arrived on February 15.

• Filming took place in the California desert in December 2010. The setting reinforces the song's Southwestern, Tex-Mex, and spaghetti-western character.

• The video's deliberately weathered visual treatment and old-school styling were noted by contemporary coverage, which highlighted its grainy image, desert locations, and vintage atmosphere.

• The recording project featured musicians associated with Mariachi El Bronx, the mariachi alter ego of Los Angeles punk band The Bronx. Their contribution helps explain the video's mariachi presence and its cinematic Mexican-western flavor.

• The clip appeared during the brief period when Martin and Malinowski were both musical partners and a couple, giving its affectionate on-screen chemistry an unusually direct personal context.