Doomed! We’re all doomed! Floods, hurricanes, swarms of locusts, and other biblical-sized plagues are approaching. Yes, global warming has arrived and it means business.

Enter Beck with his new video, “Gamma Ray,” named after the most deadly form of electromagnetic radiation. The master ironist is here to warn us of a world full of melting icecaps and approaching apocalypse. (There may also be a love story somewhere in the lyrics.)

Though the world may be ending, Beck’s constant inventiveness and bizarreness certainly are not. To go along with the 60s feel of the song, the video sees lots of long, hippie hair, multi-colored sunglasses, and dozens of close-up shots of Beck’s mouth and eyes. As if that weren’t enough (and who could possibly want more than a candid of Beck’s mouth?), there are ticking clocks galore, people with white boxes over their heads, and one particularly hideous black and white minidress. To complete the head trip, lots of things spin around and zoom in and out of focus. It’s all so stylish and retro that by the end you feel it was more likely to be directed by the ghost of Andy Warhol than photographer Autumn de Wilde.

This style is all part of the point, of course. What Beck seems to be saying is that, though mankind may be doomed, we can still relive the 60s, wear ludicrous clothing, and have a puzzling fascination with white accessories. And, as long as we can do that and listen to fantastically groovy songs like this, who cares if we’re all going to die?

—Chris R. Kingston