San Diego folkers River City have just released a video for their song “Into the Wooded Forest Cave.”

The track is the first single from the band’s forthcoming album, the name and release date for which are yet to be determined. The striking clip features art and animation from vocalist Jon Kruger and mandolinist Ryan Tannascoli.

According to the band, the video tells the story of “a marionette-like character as he is compelled to chase a red bird through a strange land filled with Jon and Ryan’s brainchildren. Many of the characters will be familiar from [Jon’s] River City show posters and those who are familiar with Ryan Tannascoli’s work will probably be able to spot his art right away. All of the art was drawn by hand, scanned in to the computer and edited using Photoshop, Flash and After Effects.”

Kruger and Tannascoli worked on the video over the last two years, painstakingly imbuing it with the rich detail that make it such a visual treat. “I think that Ryan and I kept up such excitement over that long period of time because of the ease at which we worked together,” Kruger says. “The endless creativity and level of comfort in discussing and brainstorming new ideas and in revising old ones was such a wonderful and refreshing way to work.”

The fruits of their labor were unveiled on SoundDiego‘s late-night TV show on Saturday. River City are next set to play the Casbah on April 28, where they’ll open for Little Hurricane. They also expect to announce the official release date for their forthcoming album sometime in the next few weeks.