Music
Cane Hill's Elijah Witt: 5 Albums That Made Me
From Pantera to Letlive, the singer looks back on the records that changed his life
When their debut album Extraterra was released in Octobr 2018, Brooklyn trio Vaureen introduced the world to their unique blend of doom metal and shoegaze through tracks that vacillated between ethereal and heavily distorted with an easy, graceful balance. One particular standout moment is "Stare Into the Sun," a meditation on the fleeting nature of capitalist excess and instant gratification, and now a mystifying video for the song manifests those ideas through gorgeous, dreamy visuals.
Gossamer and summery, the video focuses on singer and guitarist Andrea Horne's exploration of a grassy landscape during in a twilight setting. Her floaty white dress and wide-eyed gaze are excitable and nearly cultish in their execution as abstract footage of flowing gold paint are overlaid into cuts of the band performing to drive home the sunny themes.
Horne, who also acted as the video's director and brought Candiria guitarist John LaMacchia on for help with cinematography, wanted the video to have "the dreamlike quality of shoegaze guitars: washy with lots of texture." She continues, "The idea of spiritual awakening is embedded in the lyrics, and shown in the video through the main character transforming, in an abstract way. Through imagery of the material — earth, nature, melted gold — and the immaterial — the third eye and skull visuals — you can associate a sense of transition and transformation."
Vaureen's Extraterra is available now on Rising Pulse Records. Grab a copy on their Bandcamp, and keep an eye out for future shows via the group's official site or Facebook.
