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Video Credits: Director, Cinematography, Camera, Editing & Special Effects - Natasha Lavdovsky; Starring Em Boreen; Screen Writing/Concept: Natasha Lavdovsky & Em Boreen; Key Grip & Camera Assistant: Sean Brennan; Special Effects Consultant- Nick Patterson.
Song Credits: Written and Performed by Elbow Kiss; Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by David Parry; Vocals & Harp- Em Boreen; Organ & Bass - David Parry; Guitar - Sofia Miller; Piano & engineering assistant - Keenan Mittag-Degala; Drums- Austin Tufts.
About the video: Between August 2024 and March 2025, Em Boreen (Elbow Kiss) and I (Natasha Lavdovsky) shot a series of videos around Jordan River, Sooke and Victoria (in the Territories of the Pacheedaht, T’Sou-ke, Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations). With Em’s initial vision of wearing an old thrift store wedding dress and my fixation on the stunning landscapes around where I live, we developed a visual story of metamorphosis inspired by the lyrical energy of Em’s first single, Curtain Calls. I wanted to incorporate tarot symbolism, the five elements, Jungian archetypes, and some David Lynch inspired stylistic (and slightly campy) choices to ground the story inside the ethereal grief of the song. Although I used special effects for some of the physically impossible scenes, the final shot is not done with special effects or edited in any way other than basic coloration- yes we hiked 5km in the winter to that spot and yes Em had to change into dry clothes for the 5km hike back to the car.
Shot in the summer of 2019 in Haida Gwaii, I had the goal of standing in place while the tide came in to cover my body. This was around the time when forest fire smoke was beginning to be an annual occurrence. I had a gas mask that I wanted to use to reference the worsening conditions in our atmosphere, so I brought it into the ocean with me and performed a series of actions while a friend press record on my video camera (or I recorded myself). These performance videos ended up having the particular shimmery otherworldly quality that Ora Cogan was looking for to accompany her single “Sleeping”, so I edited it all into this music video. Released in 2020, the piece took on new symbolic meaning in the context of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
