According to New York trio Sunflower Bean, their latest EP SHAKE is the band in their “most natural” state. “Just the three of us writing, recording, engineering and producing,” they tell PAPER. “No other additives.”

That approach to making music is also reflected in the album’s accompanying visuals, which were inspired by natural elements. “The purest, strongest, rawest base for everything. Earth, wind, fire, water, and metal,” the band says. Last Friday, they released five music videos, one for each song on the EP.

“Making these videos was incredibly fun and rewarding because of the energy and passion of the crew involved,” Sunflower Bean says of their shoot, which took place in upstate New York over three days. “You have to find the right people with the right spirit who are down to get dirty… literally. Our director was there with us in the mud and in the water. It wasn’t a comfortable shoot for us, but nothing worth doing is ever easy. By the end of the shoot, we were stripped almost naked and sprayed with a garden hose. We all felt we were getting something really amazing on camera. Movie magic was in the air!”

Check out exclusive shots from the magical, dirty shoot below.

This was when we were getting additional shots in the woods for SHAKE. Besides the actual mud pit stuff, this was the only other set-up for that video. We were falling all over each other as we ran out of the woods. We kept tripping because it was so dark. I think after the 15th or so fall, we were ready to call it.

We love a pit — a mosh pit or a mud pit. I think here, we were really experiencing all the glory of the mud pit and the fact that it was made out of 200 lbs of clay. I quickly learned how resilient this bass was!

Huddled together taking in some sunshine between takes. For this video we were blasted with a leaf blower for a few hours. The breaks between shots were much appreciated.

This dress was actually given to me by Courtney Love many years ago. She gave me some pieces that were close to falling apart in the hopes that I would wear them live. But I loved them too much and save them for very special moments like this, and I thought the dress perfectly represented the EP and who I am inside it.

We tried to use every part of this location. When you’re making five videos in three days, there’s no time to travel. I wish this weird little shed made it into one of the shots!

Olive giving what needs to be gave, as usual.

After shooting “Serial Killer,” I was a bit worried about contracting a brain-eating amoeba from being in a strange pond. But not so worried that I couldn’t take some pictures afterwards.

As far as I know, I am amoeba free!

Andrew D’Angelo did the makeup for these videos and this red lip was one of my favorites. I don’t usually wear red lipstick because it gets all over the mic when I sing, so I loved having a red lip moment for the video.

We’re really lucky to work with Fender! They sent us some guitars to destroy for the video, but this gradient Precision bass is my tried-and-true that I play on stage. It’s way too precious to ruin. She has her big moment in the “Angelica” video.

Styling: Amber Simiriglia
Photography: Crista Simiriglia