Sunlight, do you believe in love?
Do you pray for the rain?
The hazy allure of Vandal Moon‘s video for “Sunlight” is nothing less than a captivating romance. “Sunlight,” with its grandiose wash of swelling synths that merge with sorrowful guitars, is not for the faint-hearted. With emotion tipping over from the start, the song surges into its howling chorus—a tribute to the vast mysteriousness of the sky.
“We’ve all had those late night, drunken conversations with a friend about religion, spirituality and the universe,” says frontman, Blake Voss, on the lyrical content of “Sunlight.” “About our beliefs and wonderment. We’ve all been there. And this song was born out of one of those conversations. It dawned upon me that there is a literal god right there in the sky, staring down upon us, every single day, granting the gift of life. The Sun. I’m no mystic, but I’ve done enough acid to know a god when I see one. Call it what you want, a pagan prayer, a wiccan celebration, I’ve written this song for the Sun.”
“Sunlight”‘s video mirrors the bewitchment of the song—part The Love Witch and part Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre, the video is alight in a fuzzy, enigmatic glow. Watch it below.
Samantha “Polaris” Giacalone, the actor and creative force behind the video, felt an immediate connection to “Sunlight.” She states: “When I heard “Sunlight” for the first time, the lyrics met me at a place I was with how I was feeling about my art. Oftentimes, my “performer self” feels like daimon or spirit that needs to be invoked within me, and other times it feels distant. I almost have to coax her out, which is why you see the character light a candle by the little altar I created in the garden. The character drenched in red light is more of a Solar and playful energy, while the other character is more of a Lunar and melancholy energy. I have been studying the many faces of Earth and Fertility Goddesses to help me navigate through this detachment from my expressive self, and I have found that many of these Goddesses have a separate “destructive” or gloomy avatar. Learning this had bolstered the reconciliation of my brooding self with my vibrant self. Both are authentic parts of me, and neither should be ignored. This is the story I wanted to tell in this music video, because I know I am not the only one.”
Further, N.C. Holdsworth, the cinematographer and camera operator pulled inspiration from our favorite feminine force, Kate Bush: “From a creative point of view, we stayed away from using digital effects. I was particularly interested in that folk soft-glow look of Kate Bush’s original Wuthering Heights video, or of a lost British Folk Horror film from the 70s. I had a vision of slow motion and smoke to capture Samantha’s choreography the best.”
Purchase “Sunlight” and the rest of Queen of the Night via Bandcamp.
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