The Artist Explains: The Brush - 'Where'
We chat to LA-based musician/filmmaker The Brush (Aaron Alan Mitchell) about his dreamy new single/music video ,‘Where’, which conveys the message that melancholy, loneliness and uncertainty can be used as a driving force to move forward.
Where was the video for ‘Where’ filmed?
The video was shot in Paris last august on Super 8mm by my good friend Nina Badoux, a Dutch director/ cinematographer. Ninabadoux.com
How does the video connect with the song?
I wanted to connect the exploration of a new place to the song, and I felt that a home movie style video on film felt like an authentic representation of that.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
In order to shoot the rooftop scene we had to essentially break into an apartment complex. A friend of Louis, the actor, once lived there and thought he still had the door code, it had changed, so he found a way into the basement and let us in. We climbed up 7 or 8 floors to the rooftop and got onto the roof by removing an old window above a toilet and crawling out. It was definitely not meant as an entry point. I was with a group of rowdy free spirited frenchmen so we drank beers and had a laugh, and even helped some of the tenants retrieve something from the roof they had been after for a while.
Could you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
Nina was the primary vision behind the video. I was there more to facilitate and give some direction. I think the imagery is pretty on the nose, in that we have a man who seems lost, listing, wandering, and dancing as if being blown about by the wind, which speaks directly to the tone of the songs chorus "I don't know where i'm going, only know where i've been".
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
The message I hope to convey is that the periods of uncertainty, though melancholic and lonely, can also be a source of inspiration, and a driving force to move into the next chapter. The lyrics of the first verse - "I've had enough, I've had too much, I've had enough, It's superfluous" touches on this. It's not a nihilistic view, a negative view, or really even a positive / view view. It's all of them at once. That moment when we ask ourselves "Okay. What's next?"
Interview by Karla Harris
You can also check out The Brush’s video for his first single, ‘The Throne’ shot and directed by Nina Badoux in the Netherlands on MiniDV, here.