Earlier this year, Toronto indie outfit Beams premiered the touching tune "I Wanted to Tell Her," and now the banjo-laden ode to the strength of familial love has been given the music video treatment.
The clip was directed by Christopher Mills, and it brings the song's story of an older sibling protecting a younger one from witnessing the pain of their troubled family to life with a unique perspective.
"The video built itself out of a collection of [Beams member] Anna Mernieks' stories, personal photographs and, of course, the arc and lyric of 'I Wanted to Tell Her,'" Mills explains. "I wanted the home to feel at first, from the dog's perspective, as though this story was being told to us with 'dog logic' — so we begin with the warm, and happy colours one might think a dog would see when arriving home."
He continues: "We explored themes of finding beauty within a chaotic situation, by cutting, pasting, and animating Anna's collection of elements with a rough, 'kid scissors' approach." The objective then became about marrying these floating pieces and components into a dramatic arc — which touches on chaos, loss, and finding beauty and inspiration in the darkness, with a way that swoops, and moves, and spins, time-lapses, and double exposes over itself, like momentary memories, laid on top of one another."
The intimate nature of the song and the visual inspirations left the band's Merniek a little hesitant at first, but she's since fully embraced the personal touches scattered throughout the clip.
"I felt shy about making a video for 'I Wanted to Tell Her,' worrying that it would turn out too literal or clichéd, but Chris's work is far from both of those things," she tells Exclaim! "He incorporated old photos and personal affects to create this nostalgic, chaotic dream world. He even managed to bring my childhood dog Troubadour back to life, and included an ode to our cat Badminton who died during the making of the video. It's a fitting environment for the song."
You can see that environment come to life on screen by watching the video for "I Wanted to Tell Her" below. Just scroll past Beams' upcoming live shows and hit play to check it out.
Tour dates:
04/08 Hamilton, ON - This Ain't Hollywood
08/22 Windsor, ON- Villains
05/05 Toronto, ON- The Garrison *
05/28 Toronto, ON- SoFarSounds
06/10 Peterborough, ON – Catalina's
06/14 Toronto, ON- Bovine Sex Club
06/17 Owen Sound, ON- Heartwood Music Hall
07/19 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place
07/22 Chardon, OH - Love Fest
07/23 Cleveland, OH - Wilbert's
* with Brokeback
The clip was directed by Christopher Mills, and it brings the song's story of an older sibling protecting a younger one from witnessing the pain of their troubled family to life with a unique perspective.
"The video built itself out of a collection of [Beams member] Anna Mernieks' stories, personal photographs and, of course, the arc and lyric of 'I Wanted to Tell Her,'" Mills explains. "I wanted the home to feel at first, from the dog's perspective, as though this story was being told to us with 'dog logic' — so we begin with the warm, and happy colours one might think a dog would see when arriving home."
He continues: "We explored themes of finding beauty within a chaotic situation, by cutting, pasting, and animating Anna's collection of elements with a rough, 'kid scissors' approach." The objective then became about marrying these floating pieces and components into a dramatic arc — which touches on chaos, loss, and finding beauty and inspiration in the darkness, with a way that swoops, and moves, and spins, time-lapses, and double exposes over itself, like momentary memories, laid on top of one another."
The intimate nature of the song and the visual inspirations left the band's Merniek a little hesitant at first, but she's since fully embraced the personal touches scattered throughout the clip.
"I felt shy about making a video for 'I Wanted to Tell Her,' worrying that it would turn out too literal or clichéd, but Chris's work is far from both of those things," she tells Exclaim! "He incorporated old photos and personal affects to create this nostalgic, chaotic dream world. He even managed to bring my childhood dog Troubadour back to life, and included an ode to our cat Badminton who died during the making of the video. It's a fitting environment for the song."
You can see that environment come to life on screen by watching the video for "I Wanted to Tell Her" below. Just scroll past Beams' upcoming live shows and hit play to check it out.
Tour dates:
04/08 Hamilton, ON - This Ain't Hollywood
08/22 Windsor, ON- Villains
05/05 Toronto, ON- The Garrison *
05/28 Toronto, ON- SoFarSounds
06/10 Peterborough, ON – Catalina's
06/14 Toronto, ON- Bovine Sex Club
06/17 Owen Sound, ON- Heartwood Music Hall
07/19 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place
07/22 Chardon, OH - Love Fest
07/23 Cleveland, OH - Wilbert's
* with Brokeback
