Chris Cornell “Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart”
Chris Cornell returns to music with his single “Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart”. The video features Cornell with actors Eric Roberts and W. Earl Brown in a tale set in the old west. Cornell and Roberts are among some outlaws who are going to be put to death. We see a couple others actually perish at the gallows, before some hijinx allows Cornell to live. In some ways it could be said that his fate is worse than death, depending on how you feel about marriage. Roberts goes up to the gallows last, and although it seems like it’s curtains for him, his mood has changed. Roberts certainly feels as though he’s won.
Stromae “Quand C’est?”
Stromae’s latest song is all about cancer. The video for “Quand C’est?” features Stromae on a stage in an auditorium. Shot in black and white, we began with Stromae clad in black standing in front of a white screen. His right hand is out before him, facing to the right of the screen. His left arm is twisted so we cannot see it, but his left hand is jutting out from his back. Stromae’s long and thin body gives him an appearance of Jack Skelington from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. So when he starts to dance, his movement seems very sharp and exagerated. On the white screen we start to see spider legs, but large spider legs, moving about in attempt to catch Stromae. As the camera pans back we see the seats are coverd with cancerous cells, and back on stage Stromae is finally caught by the spider’s legs. According to the translation of the lyrics, Stromae’s mother suffered from breast cancer and his father had lung cancer. Seemingly, the artist is afraid that he, too, will endure a battle with cancer. That point comes across well, as the fear of a large spider grabbing you probably doesn’t even begin describe the fear of your own mortality.
Story of the Running Wolf “Electric”
Story of the Running Wolf throw back to the 1985 classic film Weird Science in the video “Electric”. The video starts with a young man who enters a pawn shop and looks at a synthesizer. He can’t afford it and leaves dejected. As he makes his way around the store to the back, he finds a box with a manequin and a broken synthesizer in it. Together with a friend, they set out to build a female with a synthsizer in her leg, I guess. They get the ritual for bringing women to life right all the way down to wearing bras on their heads. It’s hard for me not to get excited for some great 80’s throwbacks.
Gary Clark Jr. “The Healing”
Gary Clark Jr.’s latest video is for “The Healing”. The video is about a woman who struggles with having a miscarriage or simply finding it difficult to conceive. As she tries therapy she finds that isn’t helping. When a doctor prescribes her medication, she doesn’t want to take it. Her solution is to sneak away and head on down to voodoo country. She meets with a fortune teller who sends her further on. We never learn if the ways of voodoo help to actually heal her. It might be as simple as believing that it has worked. The change in her eyes shows that she’s at least determined rather than sad. This could be all she needs, of course if her husband weren’t a stressor on her that would help.
Cold Specks “Neuroplasticity”
Cold Specks have released their video for “Neuroplasticity”. The video centers around a teenage girl who has gone missing. The main focus of it is her friend who had a crush on her. Unfortunately, though they spent a lot of time together, it turns out that she had feelings for another. We see cutbacks to the things the young man has video taped. At the same time, we see him make his way to her house where he enters through an open window into her room. When the girl’s father comes home, the boy runs off. He takes off where he is confronted by some other boys. One of these guys is the love interest of the missing girl. When they take the boy’s backpack and open it, the contents that all fall out are the missing girl’s. When a scuffle breaks out, the boy is stabbed. He makes his way to where he has hidden the girl’s body. This scenario can play out entirely. It’s often something stupid that leads to one person killing someone they care about. And then everything spirals out of control as you try to get a grip on what’s happened while trying to stay away from the police.
