Songfacts®:

• Portugal. The Man is an American psychedelic rock band based in Portland, Oregon. Frontman John Gourley grew up in Alaska, the son of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race veterans, rising before dawn to feed his family's dog team. He originally formed the band in the early 2000s with bassist Zach Carothers and three others, Wesley Hubbard, Nick Klein and Harvey Tumbleson, who have since left the group and been replaced by the current members. Portugal. The Man left Alaska in 2002 and went to Portland with the intent of recording and touring. This is a track from the band's sixth album and first for Atlantic, In the Mountain in the Cloud, which was released on July 19, 2011. It proved to be the band's most successful release to date peaking at #42 on the Billboard 200.
• The In the Mountain in the Cloud album title is a reference to Mount McKinley in Alaska. The highest mountain peak in North America, it has a summit elevation of 20,320 feet.
• The dark, apocalyptic music video features Gourley on the runners of a dog sled. Despite the cold, he is hatless as the director wanted to see his face. The singer told the Associated Press' Chris Talbott about the freezing shoot, which took place at his parents' home in Alaska: "It was 25 below in our back yard while we were shooting this (laughs). The loose idea was obvious - OK, let's take out the dog sled and mush around and all that. When you get back home you just do that anyway, so let's film it. It was freezing cold. Frozen hair, frozen beard, mustache. At the end of the day my face would just be pink and swollen."