BBCC Release “Campfire,” The 1st Single From The Upcoming Album “King Michael II”

French band BBCC release “Campfire” on all digital platforms today. The track serves as the first single from their upcoming album King Michael II and the Trial of the Axe, set for release on June 12 via October Tone.

They also release a striking music video — A psychedelic 16mm journey through fire, illusion, and consequence — a visually striking and surreal short film directed by Laura Sifi. Shot entirely on 16mm film and produced by October Tone Records and ASM Films, with the support of the CNC, the video expands the narrative world of BBCC’s ambitious concept album King Michael II and the Trial of the Axe.

Written by Laura Sifi and Adrien Moerlen, the film follows a group of wanderers gathering around a campfire deep in the mysterious Mélopeine Woods. Legend has it that the sap of its trees is a powerful psychotropic substance, and that their leaves emit strange sounds capable of plunging humans into a melancholic trance. What begins as a joyful gathering slowly turns into a disorienting descent into hallucination, psychedelic visions, and dreamlike states. When the forest is accidentally set ablaze, the companions find themselves trapped within the flames, confronting the consequences of their own carefree indulgence.

The track “Campfire” forms part of the broader narrative arc of King Michael II and the Trial of the Axe, a multi-act story set in a grotesque, glam, and surreal medieval world ruled by King Michael II — a distant ancestor of Michael. Within this universe, the song explores themes of negligence, fleeting pleasure, and humanity’s tendency to prioritize entertainment over awareness of the living world around us. It reflects on the performativity of happiness — the kind staged in family photographs or village fairs — before the inevitable catastrophe that shatters the illusion.

The music video unfolds in three distinct chapters mirroring the song’s evolution. It opens with a luminous, baroque-pop atmosphere filled with energy and celebration, gradually drifting into darker psychedelic territory before culminating in sweeping lyrical and orchestral climaxes.

Blending cinematic storytelling with analog textures and dreamlike imagery, “Campfire” offers a haunting visual counterpart to BBCC’s theatrical musical universe — a hypnotic meditation on joy, illusion, and the fragile boundary between celebration and disaster.