London-based psych-pop artist SANDS unveils the cinematic new video for his track ‘So Real’. The video arrives shortly after his double single release, ‘So Real’ and ‘Pirate’.
Directed by visual artist Eddie Plex, the ‘So Real’ video brings SANDS’ dreamlike sound to vivid life. Combining live-action sequences with computer-generated imagery, the film captures the song’s tension between clarity and distortion, a soft-dark world inspired by late ’80s video art and the lens of photographers like Helmut Newton. C
“In particular, it was inspired by late ’80s video art and photographers like Helmut Newton,” Plex explains. “We wanted to create something that felt both glamorous and ghostly – like a lucid dream fading in real time.”
The video echoes the track’s cinematic mood: sweeping piano arrangements, noir undertones, and a surreal atmosphere that blurs the boundary between truth and illusion, comparable to the recent releases by Arctic Monkeys. SANDS describes the piece as exploring “the tipping point — the moment when reality starts to distort and the absurd becomes seductive.”
‘So Real’ stands as the first half of a two-part release, paired with the more intimate ‘Pirate’. Where ‘So Real’ expands into something grand and unsettling, ‘Pirate’ turns inward, lazy, sensual, and ambiguous. Together, they continue SANDS’ exploration of the unstable spaces between beauty, discomfort, and imagination.
Raised on the sounds of Neil Young, Bowie, The Smiths, Talk Talk, and Echo & The Bunnymen, Andrew Sands, the artist behind SANDS has long fused elements of rock ’n’ roll, psychedelia, and pop into his own unique sonic world. With the release of the ‘So Real’ video, he further extends that vision and showcases more of the radiant potential that he possesses.
