“I didn’t notice that this was so sexual,” says artist Marion Dupas of her video for pop outfit Chateau Marmont, aka Julien Galner and Raphaël Vialla. “I drew the Indian goddess Kâli into a red flower, as that’s how she is represented in Vedic culture, but many people said it looked quite phallic. On second look, it does really looks like a vagina now.”

For the Paris-based band’s forthcoming record Sound of Shambala, inspired by the mythical kingdom of Buddhist and Hindu tradition, Dupas envisioned a kaleidoscopic universe littered with ‘yonic’ symbols (phallic’s female equivalent) and religious iconography. “I learned that there is a niche in China where you can buy peaches wearing tiny panties and I really wanted to represent this in the video,” says Dupas, who illustrates peaches alongside wifi symbols and Mac ‘spinning wheels’ in place of sex organs. “We see the internet's miniature symbols all day long and I wanted to sublimate these symbols, to have them invade the entire screen surface, and reveal their beauty.”It is a concept that struck a chord with the band. “Marion's images convey sensuality, mysticism, oddity, and a certain innocence,” says Galner. “She brings to life not only important figures of Hindu mythology, but also codes of the internet culture and tuning.”  

Chateau Marmont’s Sound of Shambala is out March 30 on Chambre 404 and Arista/ Sony Music.