The Band Explains: Clock Opera - 'Carousel'


We chat to Clock Opera about their joyful single and visuals for ‘Carousel’, the title track taken from their forthcoming album, which considers the themes of having faith in losing control and what you need to surrender in order to change.


Where was the video for 'Carousel' filmed?
On a rainy night at the fair on Blackheath in London, just above the Greenwich Observatory, so we were crossing the Greenwich Meridian every time the ride looped round.

How does the video connect with the song?
A lot of our new album is about joy in surrender, how you react to things being out of your control, which is exactly what happened on the ride. Of all the videos I’ve been part of, this is the most joyous and honest. There’s no performance here. I’m not sure I’ve even smiled in a video before, let alone grinned for 4 minutes.

Do you have any behind the scenes stories you could share with us?
We had a whole serious narrative multi-location story planned. You can see in the first 20 seconds of the video I was trying to keep a straight face and look at the camera. But that went out the window when the ride took off. However, my face was nothing compared to Nic’s (from the band). He was doing his best to hold on to the camera, let alone keep it still, and was pulling some wild expressions, which made it even more ridiculous and fun for me. I really love that we captured something spontaneous and unplanned. When we saw the colours and intense lights on the recording, we knew this should be the video.

Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?

Apart from all the obvious looping, spinning, fairground references, the lyric was inspired by being unable to be static in the face of change, how doing nothing is still contributing to one side of a divide. I suppose watching me fly around barely holding on connects to that, but mainly it’s me on a waltzer having fun, feeling alive. Also, I would like to publicly high-five the people who’ve sent messages acknowledging the use of ‘centrifugal force’ in a lyric.

Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
I hope it conveys a bit of simple joy. That is what I felt & there’s not so much of it around at the moment. Sometimes I struggle to see myself in a video, they can be contrived. But this makes me smile & I hope it does others too.

Interview by Karla Harris