Virtual Self releases new music video for ‘Key’: Watch

Virtual Self, Porter Robinson’s newly launched side project, has returned with a new music video for the track ‘Key’.

The music video is a computer-animated clip that matches the video-game-inspired track. The video follows a meteor-like ball of light flying through space and passing through the cosmos as futuristic, molecule-shaped stars float above multi-coloured skies and backgrounds. The ‘Key’ music video is the fourth official music video off the Virtual Self self-titled EP from last year, following the ‘Ghost Voices’ visual.

In other Porter Robinson news, the producer recently discussed Calvin Harris’ seminal 2009 track, ‘I’m Not Alone’, and mentioned its influence on his Virtual Self project. The discussion was sparked after Harris tweeted in support of the debut Virtual Self track, ‘Ghost Voices’.

“I’ve never interacted with him before, ever, and even as Porter we never had any relationship,” he told MTV. “Often times people won’t even say that kind of things when their buddies release new music, so I messaged him and I told him - and this is true - that I think his track from 2009 ‘I’m Not Alone’ was really inspirational for this project. It’s one of the only tracks from the last 10 years that sort of gives me that classic sort of trance feeling.” 

In that same interview, he openly discussed his views on mainstream EDM, noting that in 2014, he felt “people had really grown sick of the big room EDM sound that was dominating the festival main stages.”

“There were a lot of compromises being made,” he said, “and I think that as somebody who loves electronic music and who wants it to do well and I want even the most visible parts of the scene, even the mainstream to be producing music that’s worthwhile and that we can all be proud of. I was like ‘I really want electronic music to be great.’” 

It’s a sentiment Robinson discussed in-depth in his recent DJ Mag North America cover feature, in which he discussed his goals with Virtual Self.

“I want to inspire two things [with Virtual Self],” said Robinson. “One is for hopefully some other artists in the more visible scene, people who are already doing well, to use their platform and resources to try to mix things up. And the other is for people who are following me who have maybe only listened to future bass or whatever for the last three years, that they might expand their horizons a little bit and they might want to dig deeper into other artists.”

At the beginning of the year, Robinson voiced similar thoughts about the current state of electronic music in a leaked promotional message, in which he said, “In my opinion, electronic music is at its best and its healthiest when new, exciting, unexpected things are happening. This is a genre that thrives on novelty.”

Elsewhere, in a recent interview with The Fader, Robinson said that he doesn't see himself as a fully-fledged raver.

Watch the Virtual Self video for ‘Key’ in full below, and read our cover feature with Porter Robinson.