Declan McKenna sleepwalks his way to rockstar status, in Finn Keenan's promo for Nothing Works. Opening in an upscale nightclub, we see McKenna encouraging full-blown dance sequences and melting the hearts of everyone in the venue.This is quickly revealed to just be a dream, and the artist sleepwalks down to the local pub to put on a much more modest, unconscious show. But with some VFX flair and gravity-defying tricks, is there more to the concept than meets the eye? Showcasing Declan McKenna's cheeky charisma with an ambitious sense of fun, it is a fine introduction to the artist's new album.

The local pub turns into a nightmarish ground zero in Max Mclachlan's entertainingly ghoulish promo for Liverpool rock band STONE. The video for I Gotta Feeling is a fun gross-out trip, following a group of patrons in a pub who morph into zombified monsters, once they have partaken in the pub's interesting range of mood-altering ales.As lead singer Finlay Power bemoans the state of toxic masculinity - with biting lyrics such as 'Shout out to the writers of Peaky Blinders/You inspired the new age of wankers' - Mclachlan draws from a love of old horror movies, the practical effects literally come spewing out of the cast and band.There are noteworthy performances all round - but main character Hugo Hamlet is a true standout, completely embodying the concept and the spirit of drunk-zombie madness. This is made all the more visceral with the grainy, saturated look captured on 16mm by Owain Morgan, harking back to old Romero films and the zeitgeist that these events captured.In the end, the barmaid, who is clearly no stranger to dealing with monstrous men, splashes the one thing that can set everything straight: a glass of water."I wanted to take the concept of toxic behaviour and make it physical," explains Mclachlan. "Show it growing out from the inside of one drunk lad and spread, possessing a pub."

Kassandra Powell directs an absorbing comeback promo for Bimini, which shows that you can find glamour in the most unlikely places. The video for Rodeo opens with Bimini on a mechanical bull, shining bright as lights refract from the abundance of reflective monochromatic textures. Quickly bringing the concept back down to Earth, we realise this whole setup is in a typical British pub, and the punters are as about as apathetic to Bimini's performance as they come. But whilst most glare disapprovingly as Bimini continues to do her thing, one character breaks out of their passive state to get absorbed into the otherworldly trance of the music. The contrast of glossy pop concept and stoic public is a brilliant visual dynamic, and DoP Luke Dryden's cinematography captures the perfect balance of these two opposing styles.

The Chase cause chaos with everyone's favourite ska instrument, in Sophie Chatfield's delightful promo for Trumpet. Heading to The Marquis pub in Covent Garden, we see the group play their latest track to a crowd of uninhibited punters, whilst a hilariously-dressed bouncer hunts down anyone who might be sneaking the instrument into the venue. It's completely absurd and off-the-wall, and full of playful energy - and a brilliant introduction to the group."I really wanted to showcase the energy of The Chase in their live performances and the way they win over their audience," says Chatfield."I wanted a fun, chaotic scene that the viewer feels involved in (and a) light satire narrative that would seamlessly thread through the video. It imagines a tongue-in-cheek scenario - what would happen if everyone’s favourite ska instrument proved to be so mind-alteringly addictive that it was banned?"Within seconds of The Chase starting the song there’s madness wherever the eye can see: dancing on the bar, beers in the air, the pub’s excellently named landlord Tommy McGuinness leaping around like a lunatic. You might need to sneak off to the toilets to share some ‘Trumpet’ away from the glare of the meathead bouncers, but if something can bring this much happiness, how can it be wrong?"

Niall O’Brien directs an absorbing, ultimately tender video for Talos's returning single Dance Against The Calm. Shot in Cork, the hometown of the Irish indie/electronic musician otherwise known as Eoin French, the promo sees the lead character (played by Sam Keeley) hang out at a local pub, drinking away his demons and grappling with a storm of emotions. Enigmatic flashbacks offer a small glimpse into a narrative, but not enough for it to become a key part of the story. Not quite yet, at least. Instead, after a quick break outdoors, Keeley returns to the bar, and is immediately comforted by every one of the patrons, who wrap their arms around him in a giant hug, allowing him to express his emotions freely. “It’s a song about lost futures, and a nostalgia that we sometimes carry for things that could have been,” says Eoin French - aka Talos. And the video is the first chapter in a three-part short directed by O'Brien.

Maxim Kelly takes South London band Tiña down the pub for a heart-to-heart and some magic realism for their single Closest Shave. Taken from the band's acclaimed debut album Positive Mental Health Music, Kelly matches the breezy blend of surrealism and humour in the track with his inventive take on a one-shot video. It's a dreamlike journey into a cinematic London, a combination of the familiar and the off-kilter, that begins in a rain-lashed car park, past the band sheltering in a doorway, and then heading into the cozy indoors of the pub.With the song describing a chat between lead singer Joshua Loftin and his dad, and lyrics describing the world as “nervous like a big dinner plate”, Kelly makes the flamboyant frontman the focus of proceedings, popping up in different sequences, including talking to his actual dad Rufus in the video, surreally veering into an underground walkway, before completing a pub performance with the band, to an audience of men, slow-dancing with each other.Kelly used various methods to create this 'one-shot' - without calling upon motion control. His invention and resourcefulness has paid off with a result that's charming and cool. A joy to watch, in fact.