Francis and the Lights Share "Friends" Video f/ Kanye West and Bon Iver

Francis and the Lights are back with their brand new song, "Friends," f/ Kanye West and Bon Iver.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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In a bit of a surprise, Francis and the Lights are back on Thursday afternoon with the release of their new single, "Friends," which features Kanye West and Bon Iver and was written by ex-Vampire Weekend member Rostam Batmanglij. 

The Jake Schreier-directed visual opens up on Kanye nodding to the beat looking off-screen until a smooth camera change dims the lights on him and lets Francis and the Lights dance us through the next phase. It's stark and simple and yet a beautifully lit and very human display that demands our attention at all times. Soon enough, the camera seamlessly pans over to Bon Iver who joins Francis in a synchronized dance. Thankfully, we get one last powerful glimpse of Kanye doing a very Kanye move by video's end. Even when he's in the background, we definitely still see you Kanye.

Chance the Rapper took to Twitter to share Francis and the Light's "Friends" was sampled on "Summer Friends," a record off Chance's acclaimed Coloring Book mixtape. Of course, "Summer Friends" included a quest spot from Francis. "#friendsvideo is literally looking at all my influences at once. Thank you @andthelights for being so inspiring," Chance added on Twitter.

Francis and The Lights sampled his own song to produce Summer Friends for me, this is the original https://t.co/fQ6f0Hvpkn #friendsvideo

You'll also notice the video for "Friends" takes a similar cue from an older Francis and the Lights visual.

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