The video’s hazy, psychedelic animation, created by Barcelona-based Mexican digital artist Arturo Baston, perfectly complements PyPy’s wild, scratchy sound. Baston, celebrated for his work with METZ, Mudhoney, and A Place to Bury Strangers, brings a visual style that feels like A Scanner Darkly crossed with The Office.

“Poodle Wig” is part of PyPy’s long-awaited sophomore album, Sacred Times, released in October via Goner Records—a decade after their debut, Pagan Day. Synth player and vocalist Annie-Claude Deschênes revealed that the song was inspired by a strange real-life encounter she had while waiting at a clinic, a moment transformed into the kind of eccentric narrative only PyPy could deliver. 

We spoke with Deschênes and guitarist/vocalist Roy Vucino about the memory, the band’s creative chemistry, and why it took 10 years to release new music.

Can you describe the real-life situation that led to this music video? 

Annie-Claude Deschênes: When I wrote “Poodle Wig,” I was sitting in a clinic, watching a woman with a giant poodle wig stare at me. Suddenly, I was hit with a flood of awkward memories, bad hair days, cringey outfits, moments of self-doubt. As I kept writing, those memories piled on, making everything feel more intense. The song ended up being about how the smallest thing, like a haircut, can trigger a full-on mental meltdown

Where did the idea for the were-poodle come from? It’s ridiculously wacky.

Roy Vucino: That’s all Arturo and you’re right, it’s completely ridiculous. Were-animals are such a fun concept, I often wear dog masks on stage as an ode to these mythical creatures.

Can you describe how you choose what synth sound takes up a song?

AD: Ridiculous as it sounds, I chose that synth because in my head it kind of sounded like a dog singing.

Are there ideas for more music videos down the road? 

RV: Yes but I feel like divulging that would be a spoiler.  I did have one AI video idea we opted not to do. The concept was a family of clones of me (husband, wife, children all with my face…super creepy) watching the Super Bowl and PyPy was playing the halftime show. There would have been a bodybuilding Alf and muscleman Oscar the Grouch as dancers. No one was sold on the idea. No idea why.

Why did Sacred Times, the follow-up to Pagan Day, take 10 years and will this be a continued trend?

RV: That’s definitely a trend we intend to stop. For a long time, PyPy was everyone’s side project, but now we are treating it more as a main project, so we are already working on our next album. Also, we all missed hanging out and this is the best excuse to do so.

What’s next for PyPy?

RV: There are some US dates in 2025, a song on a NY compilation, and we are working on poodle-themed cereal for mass consumption. It will be marshmallow poodle heads in cereal mixed with real dog hair—super yummy.