Synopsis

Crystal Castles' "Affection" unfolds as a fractured, dreamlike tour document rather than a conventional narrative. Alice Glass appears in intense close-ups, singing and staring into the camera while Ethan Kath and others drift through shadowy, unfamiliar spaces. Fireworks, saturated lights, digital distortion and a masked figure interrupt the performance footage, creating a disorienting visual counterpart to the song's melodic but uneasy electronic atmosphere. The result feels spontaneous, nocturnal and deliberately unstable.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video premiered on April 26, 2013, several months after "Affection" appeared on Crystal Castles' third album, (III).

• The band described the project as an "abstract tour documentary." Its footage was recorded during the group's South American tour, after shows in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Bogota, Colombia.

• The footage came from several contributors rather than a single conventional video shoot. Ethan Kath filmed Alice Glass, while live drummer Chris Chartrand and Berlin graffiti artist Dextrose filmed the duo. Marc Pannozzo filmed Ashley McMinn.

• The material was assembled in London by Stephen Agnew, whose video-glitch work helped give the clip its heavily distorted digital appearance.

• "Affection" followed the videos for "Plague" and "Sad Eyes" in the promotional campaign for (III).

• The video's rough, multi-camera construction reflects the band's preference for abrasive, lo-fi imagery over polished performance-video conventions.