Halifax’s Moonwake have had a busy year. They’ve already released two EPs, Be Still and Placement, along with a handful of videos. Now they’re releasing their first proper music video, “Without the Sun,” featuring dancer and choreographer Anastasia Wiebe. Given the interpretive nature of the video, we can only assume that we’re entitled to some level of interpretation ourselves.
Filmed by Charlie Benoit, the video follows Anastasia Wiebe as she limberly weaves a delicate story. Performed as a post-modern re-imagining of Soviet-controlled Germany, “Without the Sun” tells a tale of a band persecuted for their musical tastes. They are forced to spend two years trapped inside the basement of a bombed-out warehouse beyond the Iron Curtain. The only lights they see in that entire time are those of their imaginations. The band turn to interpretive dance to pass the time, but in the end find a brighter world as they discover each other.
Or something like that.
“That’s the old abandoned Nova Scotia Textile building. Thing is dilapidated as all hell. Lucky we didn’t get kicked out by security,” says Moonwake’s Sean Clancey.
But the band’s description of “Without The Sun” is more abstract still. “Verses hint at cutting chords, imbalance and following a light, but not staring at it too often, for optimism lies beneath the character’s grief—that time heals all wounds.
“The choruses speak about the other person being a guide, asking that they not over-blink because when their eyes are closed ‘it’s like day when they go out, but without the sun…'”
So, basically we what we said, right?
Moonwake will be releasing their Phonetic Limbo EP next month. Along with several yet-to-be-announced bands, they’ll be throwing their official release party in Halifax, Nova Scotia at The Carleton on September 21st.