Doldrums
Client: Silverhours
Director: Craig McLaughlin
DoP: Craig McLaughlin
Ahead of the launch of SILVERHOURS’ debut album, Madeliene Moment, The Chase Films produced the music video for their first single on the album, DOLDRUMS.
Written during the COVID19 lockdown, the song echoes the feeling of ‘being in the middle of the ocean of uncertainty’. Taking inspiration from the neo-expressionist works of German dancer and choreographer, PINA BAUSCH, the creative approach taken by director Craig McLaughlin explores the idea of involuntary memories prompted by sounds, smells or touch (a phenomenon of the cross-wiring of senses known as synaesthesia). These memories can be welcome or unwelcome, and McLaughlin represents the sensations through the touch and movement of the two dancers (JAMES PETT & TRAVIS CLAUSEN-KNIGHT) in the film.
McLaughlin brought his idea to life amongst the brutalist architecture of the Alexander and Ainsworth estate, interwoven with shots from a secondary, stark & imposing location, the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station.
SILVERHOURS is the art rock music project of Ilya Gruzdev who had long been an audiophile intrigued by the geometry of musical rhythms, before winning a song writing contest for his ‘bold and emotionally elevating’ cover of Spinning Song by NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS. His latest album consists of 9 lyrical tales of love, sorrow & passion told through a fusion of lo-fi, jazz and electronica.