Rooney open up in the desert for ‘The Unicorn’ soundtrack—watch

Rooney are teaming up with AP to bring you a music video for “Time & Time Again,” taken from the frontman Robert Schwartzman’s feature film, The Unicorn.

The band previously worked with Phony Ppl to produce a “1-2-3” cover for the film, which stars Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars, Truth Or Dare). They later released “Time & Time Again.”

Read more: Billie Eilish sparks epic cover using N64, couch as instruments

Schwartzman penned the latter track to further a moment when the main characters are at a turning point.

“I wrote this song to capture the mood between the two main characters at a time when they feel emotionally divided in the story,” he explains. “The characters are away from home, pretending to be other people, going through the motions in their relationship.

“The song plays over a montage, [and] we get glimpses of the desert in the background,” he continues. “The song has a slight country sound. [It] features a lot pedal steel guitar and ambient guitars. Light brushes on snare and acoustics carry the production. I wanted the song to be open and airy, sparse instrumentation, to sit well with the Hawaiian slack key guitar featured throughout the film.”

The Unicorn soundtrack was a joint effort between director Schwartzman and Allyson Coff, and it was released last month.

“Some of my favorite albums are soundtracks. It’s how I discovered certain songs and musical artists growing up,” Schwartzman shares. “Like a playlist, or mixtape, this is [a] collection of different artists and songs, genres and styles, chosen to highlight and help support the film’s story.

“Sometimes the soundtrack takes on a life of its own, and we remember the music just as clearly as we remember the film,” he continues. “I went into making The Unicorn with a specific musical identity in mind, and it’s exciting to be able to share this diverse collection of songs on one album.”

That identity is also prevalent in the video with Schwartzman heading back to the location where The Unicorn was filmed.

“We chose to return to the same desert where we shot the film and capture that beautiful, open desert landscape,” he says. “It speaks to the open and sparse recording style in the song; for me, the visuals complement the song.”

As far as the style in which it was shot, Schwartzman saw it as the best way to incorporate footage from The Unicorn with Rooney performance clips.

“There’s a scene from the film Head starring the Monkees where Micky Dolenz is wandering the desert,” he says. “We didn’t exactly achieve the style of that sequence in the film, but it was an inspiration for this music video plot. We added the TV in the desert as a way to cut between the music video world and The Unicorn world. The choice to do this in black and white was another way to differentiate between the music video footage and the film.”

Take a look at the new music video for “Time & Time Again” below!

The Unicorn soundtrack is available to purchase here. The band embark on a 20th anniversary tour next month. Tickets can be found here, and dates can be seen below.  

Dates:

05/28 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Bunkhouse
05/29 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge
05/31 – Austin, TX @ 3Ten ACL Live
06/01 – Dallas, TX @ Cambridge Room (House Of Blues)
06/02 – Houston, TX @ Bronze Peacock (House Of Blues)
06/04 – New Orleans, LA @ The Parish (House Of Blues)
06/05 – Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl
06/06 – Nashville, TN @ High Watt
06/07 – Charlotte, NC @ Evening Muse
06/08 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
06/09 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
06/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Murmrr Ballroom
06/12 – Boston, MA @ Cafe 939
06/14 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
06/15 – Indianapolis, IN @ HiFi Indy
06/16 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
06/17 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
06/19 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
06/20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
06/21 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
06/22 – Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
06/23 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
06/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
06/26 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Lodge Room
06/27 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
06/28 – Anaheim, CA @ The Parish (House Of Blues)