LO Rat King

Rat King is taken from LO s upcoming album The Gleaners. Out April 7 via Pelagic Records. PREORDER, STREAM: Directed, designed and animated by Carl Whitbread A Rat King is a rare monster created by nesting rats that through crammed and overpopulated conditions become entangled in their own tails, slowly starving to death unable to free themselves or work together to survive. Traditionally seen as a poignant symbol for greed, plague and societal disease. Consumption as a saviour complex makes us all rat kings, bound together in greed. We have eaten beyond our means and we lust for more through capitalism and refusal to stop a feast that is coming to an end. One of the album s core characters is given its dues. Stylistically the idea was to give the animation a hand drawn and gritty look, whilst keeping it simple and striking. This was achieved through a variety of rotoscoping techniques over stock video, animated elements and footage of Sam singing.