Synopsis

A collage of degraded analog images unfolds instead of a conventional performance video. Young women appear in intimate, everyday moments, surrounded by flashes of rural landscapes, homes, streets, and indistinct outdoor scenes. The footage feels both personal and strangely detached, as if drawn from an old family tape or forgotten archive. Heavy grain, washed-out colors, flickering frames, and layered processing turn these fragments into a dreamlike portrait of adolescence and emotional distance, matching the song's melancholy rather than illustrating its lyrics literally.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in January 2011 to accompany the Robert Smith version of "Not In Love," which had first appeared as a digital single on October 26, 2010.

• The central footage was shot roughly ten years earlier, when the filmmaker documented a group of girls in a remote small town. Additional material was filmed and processed over more than a year.

• The project was initially intended for another Crystal Castles song, "Violent Dreams." After re-editing the existing material, the footage was found to connect more effectively with "Not In Love."

• Its worn Super-8 and VHS appearance was created through extensive processing, giving the clip the feel of damaged home movies and recovered archival material.

• The editing deliberately works against the track's steady pulse. Rather than cutting tightly on every beat, the images often drift or change in opposition to the rhythm.

• Unlike a conventional promotional clip for a collaboration, the video does not feature Robert Smith, Alice Glass, or Ethan Kath performing to camera.

• "Not In Love" is a cover of a 1983 song by Canadian band Platinum Blonde. Crystal Castles' original album version used Ethan Kath's vocals, while the later version with Smith became the more widely recognized recording.

• Smith originally approached Crystal Castles about remixing one of their tracks. Instead, Kath suggested that he record new vocals. Smith's home-recorded demo was ultimately retained for the released version because of its raw quality.

• The song became Crystal Castles' highest-charting single at that point and was later certified gold in Canada.