Fredericton singer-songwriter Cat LeBlanc has dropped a brand new music video for new track “Side of the Road.” The video combines LeBlanc’s soothing acoustic tune with the cinematographic powers of the NB Film Co-op, while exploring the themes of loss and yearning, a search for guidance, and aliens.
The video opens to a young woman solemnly exiting a house, her backpack filled to the brim with all of life’s essentials (namely, a cat). As she starts off down the driveway, we quickly get a shot of her attempting to hitchhike, so it seems like this isn’t going to be a short walk.
Cat (LeBlanc, not the featured feline) and the band then get some screen-time of their own, just in time for the chorus, where LeBlanc’s vocal dynamism is fully on display. Where we were greeted with a soft lull akin to a lullaby, LeBlanc delivers the chorus with much more energy, capturing the wide range of emotions the song ultimately takes us through. “Will you take me away? Will you save me?”
Our video-protagonist continues her trek across various parts of the city, down trails and across bridges until they finally enter a wide field late at night, unaware that a mysterious visitor with apex make-up skills is keeping a close eye on her.
The alien finally makes themself known to our protagonist, baffled by yet quickly accepting their newfound companion, and the two share a moment of wordless bonding before beaming back up into the alien’s spaceship. She’s saved at last.
“We are all beings searching for something, and we have more in common than we realize,” says LeBlanc.
“Young Janey and her cat, Genesis, are searching for place to call home where they will not be abused. The futuristic-being Nexus is also searching, for a new home as their planet has been destroyed by war,” she explains further.
“In a lot of ways, I feel we are all searching for ourselves in a noisy overstimulating world.”
Cat LeBlanc’s upcoming album, Blue to Blue, is schedule to be released on February 23, 2020.