It’s called “dance music,” but it’s rare to find music, movement, and emotion captured to film. That’s what makes this new music video
And it’s all a meditation on “change” – that theme, and the feelings around it, I think make this video something all of us can relate to:
Videos for dance tracks have become so pedestrian that I almost dread anything mentioning a video or video premiere in my inbox. The difference here: Andrew Butler’s Hercules & Love Affair is already a project that integrates dance, and his work here is as director as well as music producer.
Butler (who you see make cameos in the video) teamed up with Joie Iacono, another talented DJ with deep musical sensibilities, to co-produce and co-direct the video. It’s polyglot meets polyglot, each of them having transplanted themselves from central roles in the New York scene to
And the results are simple, but arresting – concise, motivated gestures with occasional stuttered edits to match the music. This sort of thing can quickly become cliche, but veteran choreographer Joshua Hubbard has a uniquely well suited language. He has worked with the likes of Elton John, but that’s not the main thing here – his choreography is irregular, contorted, yet still relentlessly lyrical. So the result is the ability to make haiku-like mysteries out of simple moments.
And well, watch him improvise to see what I mean:
It’s a shame dance music videos can’t always be on this level, so it’s worth taking note when they are.
The track is produced by Andy Butler with Alec Storey as Hercules & Love Affair, and you also get sculptures in the video by Egon Van Herreweghe and Thomas Min.
The EP is out on November 1. More at PAPER, who premiered this:
https://www.papermag.com/hercules-love-affair-change-2640928744.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3