wave to earth, 'heaven and hell' shot in Mexico

In three lines.

• News about 'heaven and hell,' the new single from indie band wave to earth.
• The music video was shot in Mexico, directed by Argentine filmmaker Maureen Hufnagel.
• It follows two brothers in a small Mexican town — a story about growing up and courage.

Let's start with the song.

What crossed the border wasn't scale, but an attitude

A Korean indie band heads abroad and shoots a music video with a director from that country. This isn't a work meant to show off scale. It's a band searching — even past the border — for the right images to lay its song over.

wave to earth is a band that doesn't let the guitars ring out loud; instead they leave generous space between one sound and the next. That texture reached wide overseas before it did at home. A band that has met listeners in country after country through streaming and touring has now set its camera outside the border too. Behind the direction is Maureen Hufnagel, an Argentine filmmaker. A Korean band's song, a South American director, a shoot in Mexico — that combination is where the music video begins.

Shooting in an unfamiliar country takes a lot out of you. The language is different, and so is the way a set runs. Going all that way anyway probably came from wanting to see what face the song wears once it steps away from the familiar. The music crossed the border first, so the images followed after. This slow way of taking a long time to choose the right people and the right place feels very much like this band.

Two brothers, and a single ray of light

The story follows two brothers in a small Mexican town. Instead of leading with a big event, it looks closely at the grain of each day, slowly pressing on the feelings of growing up and courage. Brothers are the ones who watch each other's dark and light from the closest distance. That's how a story this small can carry a title as big as 'heaven and hell.'

Some songs are finished on a stage, and some are finished in unfamiliar alleys and afternoon light. 'heaven and hell' feels closer to the latter. When the backdrop changes, the place we listen from shifts a little too. The light and shade of Mexico on screen become the song's own expression.

That's the last of the numbers. Now, the music. Like the title says, life has its darkness, but there's also a single ray of light that keeps you moving forward — that's what the song tells us. And it carried that light into Mexican sunlight. Setting heaven and hell side by side isn't about choosing one over the other; it's closer to meaning that we live by passing through both. When this song plays over the image of the brothers walking side by side, it feels like a quiet word that the season each of us is passing through now will, someday, be walked through together.