Archeology | By the By | Music Video from shieldsfilms.com on Vimeo.

Sound on the Sound is pleased to premiere “By the By,” the first video from Archeology’s debut full-length release Memorial, out tomorrow. If you’re not from Portland, this is probably the first time you’ve heard of the band, but I suspect it won’t be the last.

Much like the band’s name,  Memorial seeks to explore the past in hopes of finding insight on the present and future. In spite of the cheery pop orchestration, Memorial excavates the childhood demons of weekends spent on church pews long abandoned,  all the while glaring boldly back at blind faith. Lyrically the band examines these former beliefs just as we look upon artifacts from another era-with curiosity, confusion and the clarity of 20/20 hindsight. Musically, the band recalls fellow Portlander’s Bark Hide and Horn and Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, as well as a touch of twee Okkervill River and Matt Pond, PA.

For their debut video, Archeology stayed true to their name and the religious reckoning that occurs throughout the album. The video was filmed in part at Oregon’s Meier Archeological Site, and it tells the story of a priest who after denouncing his faith; lures, murders and dismembers the band in an act of wild rebellion against every belief he once held dear, only to be haunted by the band’s memory. It is a potent visual metaphor for anyone who has left behind a long-held belief (or belief system), done everything they could to rid themselves of the reminders, only to find that they are everywhere.

The band will be celebrating Memorial’s album release with a show at The Comet Tavern this Friday, March 19th.  In April they’ll be bringing Memorial to the rest of the West Coast with a string of tour dates from Sacramento to Salt Lake City to Tuscon. See if Archeology will be stopping your town on the band’s Myspace.