by Jane Lambert

Video Voyager: Kristen Rae Bowden’s Video for “Hard to Love”

Kristen Rae Bowden’s work is a penchant for clever metaphorical turns of phrases, raw emotionality, and imaginative musical arrangements. Her musicality stretches through adventurous journeys with a dramatic flair, melding classic rock and prog-rock melodies to highly personal emotional explorations. She counts as inspiration such diverse artists as Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Primus, Radiohead, Joni Mitchell, John Prine, and legendary musical theater composer Stephen Sondheim.

Her new single “Hard to Love” was actually written with an unanswered question in mind: Can you restart a heart? Kristen didn’t have the answer at the time of writing this which is why the song never answers the question definitively.

The video visually pulses alongside the music. When the chorus arrives, there’s a depiction a woman forming in the lines of the beating heart. She breaks out, shattering the heart and finds freedom. Set in a magenta hue, Kristen is seen singing the verses, almost like she trying to find the answer to her question.

We spoke with Kristen about her video, what it means, and how she came up with the idea of the video:

Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

When I wrote “Hard to Love” I was grappling with what you might call “post-broken-heart syndrome”. Just like a physical wound scars over with harder, less flexible skin, I felt my broken heart had healed in many ways, but I felt numb, hardened, and incapable of intimacy. I thought, is this my new normal? Feeling so much less alive than I used to? And I realized I was hiding, dimming my light on purpose, so I couldn’t get hurt again.

The story of “Hard to Love” is all about that feeling: hardening your heart after a breakup like it’s a fortress, not letting anyone all the way in. And at the same time missing how it felt when your heart was open and you were vulnerable, but free. You can’t have both. You can’t shore up your defenses so you don’t get hurt and live life to it’s fullest simultaneously.

The song is centered around a metaphorical question: “Can you restart a heart?” Given its inspiration, when I wrote the song I knew I wanted it to be centered sonically around a heartbeat. And then when it came to the video, I was excited to get to see that heart beating. So I knew I wanted animation to be the vehicle.

I also wanted the world of the video to be different from the real world, to express how alien, fake, and two dimensional the world can feel when you’re anxious and hiding yourself.

What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

I wanted to metaphorically express the way “post-broken-heart syndrome” feels, and I knew the heart would be the central image. So I came up with the idea of a girl hiding inside of her heart, which she’s turned into a fortress of protection. No one is allowed in, but no one is allowed out either, so she has essentially imprisoned herself for her own safety. Veins turn to vines and wrap around her wrists and ankles like shackles.

She grows weary of her self-imposed cage and breaks the heart in order to be free, but even then she finds herself on a cliff, alone. All of this imagery, to me, really works to express the feelings of a fear of intimacy.

I also thought the video should have a human aspect. I’m there singing the song in this pink x-ray landscape where a human is out of place and shouldn’t really exist. That’s how I felt when I wrote the song, lost in uncharted territory.

The storyline shifts in the bridge of the song, and I love that you can see my human frustration in that “I can’t go on this way” moment.

The lyrics of the song never offer any hope or assurance that yes, you can “restart a heart”, but the musical section after the bridge has the feeling of hope and triumph. I wanted the video imagery to push that feeling into a certainty. So I went with the idea of growth and blooming to represent that hope, and I love watching the glowing heart grow into a garden.

What was the process of making this video?

I had been playing with the FlipaClip app (flip-book style animation) while dreaming up the conceptual images for this video, so I learned a little bit about how time consuming animation can be and what an awesome skill it is. I knew I wanted the finished video to look more artistically advanced than anything I was going to be able to do.

Through a mutual friend I was very lucky to find Pat Bradley, award-winning animator and illustrator at Spring Shoe Animation. I was thrilled when he signed on for the animated portions, and to edit the video into the imaginary pink x-ray world. I sent him the storyboard I’d made with pieces of amateur animation and drawings of the girl in the heart, and we set up the video shoot together through more mutual friends, Sanjay Suchak and Stephen Thomas.

The video shoot itself was a lot of fun. I sang along with the song in front of a green screen, and though it took me a couple hours to loosen up, eventually I was able to let go of my inhibitions and really express some of that frustration and movement you see in the final product.

Pat did an incredible job taking my crudely drawn ideas and putting them into cohesive, flowing lines that tell the story of the song. He also integrated me into the animated world in a way that I hadn’t imagined.

Connect with Kristen Rae Bowden via:

Website // Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // YouTube // TikTok // Spotity // Soundcloud

03.07.23

by Jane Lambert

Video Voyager: Low Tide Levee’s Video for “Dang Diggy”

Low Tide Levee is the newly emerging band of seasoned musicians featuring singer/songwriter, composer, drummer, pianist, and former marine biologist Amy Brookes as the primary creative force. She writes the songs, sings lead vocals and harmonies, and plays drums, percussion, and keyboard. Her husband, Sasha Ames, is the band’s bassist and, sometimes, studio guitarist, and the trio is rounded out by a guitarist.

The band just released their new single “Dang Diggy” and it’s accompanying video. The 60’s pop and progressive rock song was written during one of Amy’s jaunts to a local tea shop she used to frequent to get the creative juices flowing. She came up with this tune, not really expecting much from it, but it ended up being a band favorite.

The fun Claymation video depicts the character of Dang Diggy as an almost divine entity, throwing pies down onto the man below. This man is in a boat with nowhere to run from the pies, his only options are to jump out and swim or sit and take it. It’s a clear depiction of life through whatever it has down on you, good and bad.

We spoke to Amy about the video and what her ideas were:

Tell us the story of this song. Why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

Dang Diggy came to me during one of my jaunts to my local tea shop that I used to frequent, a unique kind of place to gather and chat with random strangers, while enjoying the subtleties and meditation of gongfu tea ceremony. I often used my walks there and my time sipping tea to invite in the creative process, and many a gem came and was captured with my voice memo or note app on my phone.

The words just came into my head, and I thought it was a fun, silly, trippy song that could be a camp song. Little did I know that my band would love it and we would turn it into a rock anthem. Each pie is a ridiculous stoner dream of an over- the-top kind of dessert that exceeds all reason and just sounds like heaven, even if it would in reality be too much. Eventually, I realized that this incredible mask we found for our music studio (aka the “Funk Palace”) *was* Dang Diggy, and that Dang Diggy was absolutely this non-gendered deity that hung about in the sky throwing down pies to whomever might be fortunate enough to receive them.

What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

It was my dream to have a Claymation video showing the story of this character Dang Diggy, a deity-like being who hangs about in the sky throwing down all the different pies. I found someone on Fiverr (Aleksej Pezzi) who did really cool Claymation music videos, and we worked together on filling out the rest of the story and visuals. He proposed a number of different characters for the little creature receiving the pies, and I fell in love with one of them that was sort of Gumby-like with this big heart on its chest. I liked the idea of the creature being in a boat since our band is very inspired by the ocean.

What was the process of making this video?

I wrote to Aleksej about the Dang Diggy mask (and sent photos) and the idea of a Claymation version of it throwing down pies, and we went through a process of sketches and proposals for each character’s look – starting with a sketch and progressing to a clay version. He sent me a mock-up for each scene and we ironed out the details. I wasn’t exactly keen on having Dang Diggy’s pie come out of its nose bathed in snot in one verse, but he kept it in and I just went with it (lol!!). In the end, I wound up loving the whole little movie, it was beyond the sum of its parts and I was so delighted with the expression Aleksej created in each character as the story progresses. No matter how many times I’ve viewed it now, it still cracks me up!

Connect with Low Tide Levee via:

Website / Instagram / Facebook / TikTok / YouTube / Spotify / Soundcloud

02.17.23

by Jane Lambert

Low Tide Levee Premiere Their Playful New Single “Dang Diggy”

Low Tide Levee is the rising band featuring seasoned musicians and lead by singer/songwriter, composer, drummer, pianist, and former marine biologist Amy Brookes. She writes the songs, sings lead vocals and harmonies, and plays drums, percussion, and keyboard. Her husband, Sasha Ames, is the band’s bassist and, sometimes, studio guitarist, and the trio is rounded out by a guitarist. Formerly, Low Tide Levee has included Chris Amato on guitar, engineering, and production, and Harold Spiva on guitar.

Their trippy and transformative music is fun and exciting with heavy, blues-based riff rock, stanky funk, and sneaky adventures into sprawling psychedelia. Lyrically, the songs can be mystical, playfully irreverent, and enlightening—sometimes in the same song. “A lot of the subjects we write about are things bubbling inside of me—themes of finding one’s power, and rising like a phoenix as an allegory. I’ve been through a lot of trauma in my life, and I am waking up to seeing the things that held me back,” Amy shares.

Their new single, “Dang Diggy,” is a whimsical 1960s garage-rock single with an ABBA meets The Beatles sound that came to Amy during one of her creative sessions at a local tea she frequented. The lyrics came to her quite quickly, but she never expected the band to love it. The song boasts a sing-a-long refrain and oozes mystical overtones.

“Eventually, I realized that this incredible mask we found for our music studio (the “Funk Palace”) *was* Dang Diggy, and that Dang Diggy was absolutely this non-gendered deity that hung about in the sky throwing down pies to whomever might be fortunate enough to receive them,” says Amy. “These days in band practice, we use Dang Diggy both as a great warm-up, and as a sort of casting of the circle for our ritual of music creation, offering homage to Dang Diggy as it hangs out above my drum throne on the wall. After this musical ritual, I can’t help but laugh, every time.”

“Dang Diggy’s” hallucinatory charms come to life via its silly and fun claymation video. The video depicts the character of Dang Diggy throwing pies down on someone alone in a boat, almost like Dang Diggy symbolizes a God or life and the person down below in the boat represents you and your reality. This figure sits there letting life throw everything they’ve got, good and bad.

Connect with Low Tide Levee via:

Website / Instagram / Facebook / TikTok / YouTube / Spotify / Soundcloud

01.04.23

by Jane Lambert

Video Voyager: “Let the Healing Begin” by Sahffi Lynne

Sahffi Lynne is an international medicine musician and vocal coach, offering their music, meditations, ceremonies, and teachings as medicine to illuminate our connection as human beings.

They just released their music video for their moving single “Let the Healing Begin,” an acoustic folk-like song about using creative processes to heal from grief and pain. The video depicts this kind of healing by way of 3 separate forms of art. Sahffi is depicted writing a song, a woman is depicted painting, and a man is depicted dancing.

The video is a beautiful piece that complements the single perfectly. Everything about it, from the people to the setting to the action is stunning. Even as we watched it, it provided catharsis as a viewer, almost like we felt seen.

“My own experiences have shown me that with a combination of meditation, creativity, plant medicines, and professional support, one can truly heal trauma and reclaim their birthright of living in love. I am honored to carry the medicine of music to teach and guide those interested in doing the necessary work to connect with their true voice and purpose,” shares Sahffi.

We got a chance to speak with Sahffi about their song and video and dove into the specific artistic choices:

Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

Actually, the interesting thing about this song is that it was completely channeled! I often hear music in the wind or hear melodies in the woods, yet this is the only time (so far!) that I watched my hand write the lyrics without a clue of what I was writing! I then picked up my guitar, and as I read the lyrics, the song just poured out of me. The message, “you can let the darkness win, or you can let the healing begin,” was so profound for me at that specific moment of my life. I was struggling to move forward after a bitter breakup, an illness that temporarily kept me from singing and working, and a subsequent move out of my home because of income lost. This song was a beautiful reminder for me that I had the choice to continue on in life or give up. The song gave me strength and truly helped to heal my heart!

I was talking with a friend after the album, “Pulse of Evolution,” came out in 2021. (“Let the Healing Begin” was released on that album.) I told her I’d love for more people to hear the song, as I hoped it would touch others as it did me. She reminded me that many people “consume with their eyes” these days (as she put it!), and her words planted a seed that a beautiful video needed to be created for this powerful song!

I am grateful so many others resonate with this song’s message of hope and strength, and I am proud the video represents and reflects the message of this song so beautifully.

What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

The video originally was going to be an animation, yet the plans for that fell through. I didn’t know how I was going to make a video, yet a Facebook friend, Maranda Kosten, reached out saying she felt called to talk with me about how we could work together. I thought perhaps she would be interested in voice lessons, (which she did end up taking!), yet she mentioned she worked for Do Good Video Productions. Within a couple of weeks we were meeting with the team at Do Good, along with my director, Lucas de Britto, talking about making a video! I couldn’t believe how easy it was to have found such an amazing team of people as excited about this song and project as I was!

My last hurdle was funding, yet I was grateful that over 150+ of my community supporters donated to my birthday campaign to make it happen!

The storyline follows three artists (a dancer, a painter, and me, a musician), from their lowest point, through creation, and ultimately to their reconnection of their spirit. Throughout it all, they each have elders watching over them, encouraging them with their silent wisdom and strength. I love how the video shows the process of healing includes the movement of creation!

One fun fact: the video starts out in muted colors and becomes more vibrant by the end. The inspiration for that effect was “The Wizard of Oz!”

What was the process of making this video?

This project was a year in the making! It started with a seed of an idea, then quickly jumped to a crowd sourcing campaign. The IndieGoGo campaign was a huge success, with over 150+ of my supporters making contributions, and one angel investor matching the total! I am so grateful for the support I receive for my music!

With my community’s support, we started site visits to the location of the video, my dear friend’s private land in Pennsylvania lovingly called “Hawk’s Ridge.” Magically, the dates for the shoot in May worked for everyone involved, and we were grateful for beautiful weather that weekend!

Do Good Productions was wonderful to work with, offering a fantastic production and creative team, and the shoot went off without a hitch. In fact, we all mentioned how unusual it is to have everything fall into place so easily! My director, Lucas de Britto, was also the editor, and I am grateful for his sweet temperament and amazing talent.

Everything came together for a holiday 2023 release, and I am super proud of this community-supported project! I hope everyone will be touched by the song and story line of the video as I have been.

Connect with Sahffi Lynne via:

Website / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Spotify

12.16.22

by Jane Lambert

Video Premiere: The Flip Phones Debut Their Music Video for “Man Made Moon”

The Flip Phones are the folk rock duo making waves with their debut EP, Better in the Dark, now streaming.

They’ve just released the music video for their thought provoking single “Man Made Moon.” The intimate setting of the video, with Ryan and Lindsey performing for the viewer in a single shot, allows the viewer to really become enveloped in the song. The camera almost acts like the eyes of the viewer, going back and forth between the two. Because the camera never stops rolling and it’s just the one shot, it flows quite well with the atmosphere of the song.

They play with light in the video as well, fitting seeing as the song was initially inspired by a man made moon they read about. The camera being on the move the whole time also adds an interesting effect with shadow, some shots are more lit than others and some shots you can’t really see the artist’s faces. It’s actually quite brilliant in it’s simplicity.

We got the opportunity to speak with the folk rock duo about their video and the song:

Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

“Man-Made Moon” was inspired by an article about an artificial moon meant to help illuminate cities and light up the night sky. It made us wonder: Is more light, specifically human-created light, really a good thing? Or should we sometimes embrace the darkness?

This song is the EP opener and lead single, and it asks the question “Are we better in the dark?” “Man-Made Moon” sets the stage for the lyrical themes throughout Better in the Dark, which explore topics such as humans vs. nature and darkness vs. light.

Given the subject matter of the song, we aimed to contrast the natural darkness of the filming location with the artificial lighting behind us to reflect the dark and light themes in the song.

What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

The idea with this video was to capture the energy of our live performance in a studio environment while using light and dark textures to create the atmosphere.

What was the process of making this video?

We made this video with Luke Justin Roberts from LJR Creative as part of his Amplify events, which provide the opportunity for local artists to shoot videos in music studios in the DC area. This video was filmed at Ivakota studio in DC and was shot in a single take with no post-production editing. Luke did a great job of working with us to capture the energy of the song while showcasing the change in vocalists on each verse before singing the choruses together.

Connect with The Flip Phones

Website / Instagram / Twitter / Facebook / YouTube / Spotify

10.13.22

by Jane Lambert

Video Voyager: Happy For No Reason’s “Canaries (Hot Summer Night)”

Happy For No Reason is a band that is the antithesis of their name. The band based out of Portland Oregon celebrate every single one of life’s precious moments as two of their members are literally happy to be alive. Comprising of Jo Alexis (vocals and percussion), Neil Goldstein (guitar), and Mark Pritchard (flute), the founding members of Happy For No Reason navigate the rich waters of Jazzy Folk with a pinch of rock, a dash of soul, and even a touch of Bossa Nova.

Their jazzy folk rock single “Canaries (Hot Summer Night)” was revived from Neil and Jo’s early music careers. Neil wrote this chord progression with a jazz band in 1974 and Jo wrote the lyrics in 1991. They put them together one night in 2015 to make the song we hear now. It’s an example of how many of their songs came together.

“The lyrics are about my boyfriend who was working in Harlem at the time and I went to visit him knowing we might break up,” says Jo. “Breaking up when you are still in love is painful but the song has turned into a raucous uptempo sing-along, like the rat pack with a female lead!”

They finished recording, mixing, and making the music video during the pandemic. A friend of Jo’s told suggested the lead vocals were initially too aggressive. So, Jo bought a new microphone and redid her parts, also learning how to use Logic, the DAW (digital audio work station) and spent many hours comping the flute and piano solos.

Their video for “Canaries(Hot Summer Night)” depicts the band on a steampunk style ship, captained by Jo. They are on a mission to catch a canary. The ship and crew are eventually wrecked and never catch the canary. It’s a metaphor for self-destruction, you want something so bad that you’re willing to ignore red flags.

We spoke with Jo Alexis about the video:

Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

We didn’t actually choose it but trusted the animator to come up with something fabulous! I saw one of his videos on YouTube and looked him up. He does a combination of live action and animation and I thought it would be amazing for this song!

What was the inspiration behind this video?

Honestly, we gave Christian Bolorinos, our director/animator/producer complete creative freedom on this so all of the ideas were his and we showed up in costume and followed direction. He is SUCH a joy to work with and has an incredible sense of humor! I was delighted with the result and so was the wonder world. The video has acquired 136k views on Facebook and is also a favorite on my YouTube channel.

What was the process of making this video?

The process was so much fun! We rented a studio in Portland and showed up in steampunk outfits(during the pandemic so we wore masks except when shooting!). We shot the music video in Portland but our director, animator and script writer, Christian Bolorinos, was in Barcelona. So we FaceTimed with him during the shoot which actually worked out really well! He directed us from Spain and we just followed his directions. I rented boat props like a steering wheel and a nautical telescope and of course, ropes. We used a fan to make it look as if we were in a terrible storm. Here are some cool pics of our shoot with the band in steampunk costumes.