Placebo’s “Surrounded By Spies”: After the official visualiser follows a music video

Just last week, Placebo released an official visualiser for their new single “Surrounded By Spies“. Now, an actual music video has been released. You can check out the video below:

The music video was directed by Gregg Houston.

Frontman Brian Molko explains the origin of the song as follows:

“I began writing the lyrics when I discovered my neighbors were spying on me on behalf of parties with a nefarious agenda. I then began to ponder the countless ways in which our privacy has been eroded and stolen since the introduction of worldwide CCTV cameras that now employ racist facial recognition technologies; the rise of the internet and the cellphone, which has turned practically every user into a paparazzo and spectators in their own lives, and how we have mostly all offered up personal information to enormous multinationals whose sole intent is to exploit us. I used the cut-up technique invented by William S. Burroughs and popularized in modern song by David Bowie. It’s a true story told through a lens of paranoia, complete disgust for modern society’s values and the deification of surveillance capitalism. The narrator is at the end of their tether, hopeless and afraid, completely at odds with our newfound progress and the god of money.”

– Brian Molko

After “Beautiful James“, “Surrounded By Spies” is the second single from Placebo‘s upcoming 8th studio album “Never Let Me Go” which will be released on 25 March 2022 via Elevator Lady Limited.