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Oct 30, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Tony Cenicola

Earlier this month, indie rock singer/songwriter musician Stephen Clair returned with his eleventh studio album, Transmissions. The record follows his 2020 album, Small Hours, and finds Clair and his longtime bandmates, bassist Daria Grace and drummer Aaron Latos, once again veering between shades of vintage garage rock, indie rock, and proto punk. Today, following the album’s release, Clair is sharing an animated video for one of the album’s highlights, “Naomi’s Phone Is Dead,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Naomi’s Phone Is Dead” is a work of unabashed Velvet Underground worship, complete with deadpan vocals and a nervy rhythm section. The groovy basslines, galloping percussion, and buzzing guitar textures all build in intensity until the track is brimming with restless energy. The band thrashes outward with chanted refrains and a jagged guitar solo, all as Clair’s lyrics offer a slick moonlit portrait of New York City grime and glamour: “It’s a big city, and they find themselves wishing / The night was big enough to embrace even them / Every block, every party, every band, every slice / Swept up in a swirl of acquaintances / Brand new friends they only just met / But they’re immortalized hugging on Instagram / Naomi’s phone is dead.”

Clair says of the track, “When you’re young and ready to bust out, the allure of NYC can be undeniable, and this song goes out to all us kids who are often left waiting for the train home late into the night.

I just performed this song at a show in Austin TX a couple weeks ago and this guy came up to me after and said, Stephen, I grew up in NJ dude, and that song was me, that was my life in high school. Artist/Animator Kelly Kingman is a friend and one day it just hit me: she would be the perfect person to capture the hyped-up buzz of wandering late-night NYC, and the inevitable and at times brutal early morning journey home—and personify it in video—and she nails it.”

Check out the song and video below. Transmission is out everywhere now.