Indie rock band Voxtrot has shared a brand new music video for “Dreamers in Exile,” the title track from their latest studio album, released Feb. 27 via Cult Hero Records. Directed by Annie Gunn, the captivating film piece was born from a creative spark ignited by a classic film, which led Voxtrot lead vocalist and songwriter Ramesh Srivastava to reflect on a specific and especially informative chapter of life.
“’Dreamers in Exile’” was inspired by the 1961 film Paris Blues, which stars Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman as jazz musicians living a bohemian life in 1950s Paris,” Srivastava shares in a statement. “I have long been interested in this postwar period, during which Paris was a hotbed of artistic activity, offering respite to Black American musicians who faced segregation back home.
“The freewheeling milieu depicted in the movie reminded me of my own time in Glasgow. In 2003, I moved from Texas to Scotland, where I lived for three years,” he continues. “Although I was not escaping racial oppression like the jazz musicians of the ’50s, I was nonetheless able to bloom in this foreign land, where I felt I could be my true self.
“As a young gay man who had grown up in the harsh religious landscape of Texas, the open-minded, inclusive scene I discovered in the U.K. offered a breath of fresh air and exposed me to a wealth of music and culture that significantly impacted my life and work,” Srivastava concludes. “’Dreamers in Exile’” is an ode to that brief but important era.”
In the music video, black-and-white performance footage is mixed and layered with retro footage, picturesque scenery, and sparkling light effects. The clips’ vintage styling was an intentional choice by Gunn, who strove to assemble a visual representation of thoughts and images from the past as they sweep through our minds.
“I approached the ‘Dreamers’ video as a visual extension of the song’s freewheeling energy and Ramesh’s lyrical themes and references: sensory, poetic memories that feel fluid and just out of reach,” she explains. “Drawing on many years of grainy 35mm black-and-white stills I’ve created with the band, we shot most of the video on 30-year-old expired 35mm, layering double exposures to create dreamlike fragments that surface, explode, and disappear. Interwoven with vintage footage of Europe (jazz musicians, fleeting revelry), the video carries a sense of time travel, as if Ramesh is unpacking and tumbling through inherited and imagined memories before letting them fade away.”
Watch the official music video for “Dreamers In Exile” below:
Voxtrot‘s 2026 North American Tour Dates
June 1 • Austin, Texas @ The Moody Theater (Austin City Limits Live)
June 2 • Austin, Texas @ The Moody Theater (Austin City Limits Live)
