VNV Nation ~ When Is The Future? [2⊘18]

Beat-synced footsteps carry us forward into the future, although, ironically, backward would suffice. Intertwining synths sing shimmering praises to majestic Chronos with layers floating above and below the present, as if ghost-like apparitions of unknown pasts and futures. A distant clock strikes thirteen and Father Time chuckles inwardly.

“Faces without names,
Playing devils and angels,
Lit up by the strobes,
Moving hypnotized.”

VNV Nation is a European-based alternative electronic project led by Ronan Harris. The music blends thought-provoking lyrics with melodic dance beats, indie-electronic anthems, haunting ballads, and post-classical pieces. “VNV” in the name stands for “Victory Not Vengeance,” in keeping with the group’s motto, “One should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret.“

“Stranger in a crowd,
Treading fire after dark,
Lost in a city,
Pulsing to the sound.“

The video follows frontman Ronan Harris as he walks through modern Tokyo showcasing the magnificence and darkness inherent in one of the modern world’s most brilliantly beautiful examples of an apex civilization, a pinnacle of capitalist society, and asks where we are going and why we aren’t we already there.

“A stranger in a strange land,
Caught in the flow,
Still searching for answers,
Among the neon lights.”