The Happy Sea

We’re all so used to the fact that music videos are often little more than puff pieces, short distractions that are more concerned with artist ego than artistic merit, that it takes us a moment to figure out what to do with a music video that doesn’t play by those conventions.  And that’s doubly try when the video is as abstract and surreal as the video for Colleen’s “The Happy Sea”.

We’re presented with nothing short of a landscape, albeit a landscape that might be envisioned by traditional Japanese landscape artists had they known about the Mandelbrot set.  Delicate fractal images grow and pulse with uncanny life, hinting at birth, seasonal changes, memories, dreams, and more abstract concepts.  It’s a perfect match for Colleen‘s fluttering tones, kaleidoscopic sounds, and frosty sample treatments.

The most affecting part of the video for me is the very end, as the song fades out, one shimmering chime at a time.  The fractal leaves slowly fall apart and fade away, holding on the way that autumn leaves desperately hold onto their branch in the face of a winter wind, and finally flying away in much the same manner.  All that’s left is a blank canvas for a few seconds, a reminder of the color and life that once pulsed in accord to the music.

More of director Carolina Melis’ artwork can be found on her website.

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• Oct 24, 2005, 9:51pm