Initially a studio project, Kiev-based Vagabond Specter is the joint project of vocalist Pablo Specter and guitarist, keyboard player, and producer, Yuriy Smailius. Their new single, ‘Half A Billion Miles’ is accompanied by an extraordinary video created by talented artist and director, Gosha Vinokurov.

Pablo and Yuriy met in Kiev in 2014, and together they fleshed out Pablo’s bare bones of songs, which would eventually become their debut album, ‘Mirrors’. After a year they brought in bassist Egor Gavrilenko and drummer Alex Okremov, and their musical vision was brought to life in live performance.

Specter has since then toured across Ukraine, including their ‘Secret Tour’, which saw them perform 25 dates around the country, including Atlas Festival and Faine Misto Festival. They also played support for Bloom Twins, and Pianoboy. Most recently, they supported legendary alt-pop artists, Garbage, at their Kiev show on 13 November.

With influences including The Black Keys, Muse, The Killers, and Death Cab For Cutie, ‘Mirrors’ takes Pablo’s vocals and lays them on a bed of electronic rhythms and guitar. ‘Half A Billion Miles’ also feels like it draws inspiration from Gary Numan, Devo, and Kraftwerk.

The video sees clips of the band collaged together and filtered through a cut out style. Animation and stop motion as well as brightly coloured cartoon and comic aspects make the video a beautiful piece of art. The underlying story of the video is one of recognising the power of the female of the species: a woman controls the overall operations, and eventually, after a scene depicting sexual congress, we realise that she’s not just controlling a ship – she’s literally a Goddess in charge of the entire universe.

Find out more about Vagabond Specter online on their Facebook page, VK page, Instagram, and official website.