Elliot Moss Has A Sugar-Fuelled Crisis In New Video For “I Heard!”
The concept of Happiness is as much of a mystery as the meaning of life. Everyone hopes to find it, but that in itself seems to be a convoluted task. For multi-instrumentalist Elliot Moss, the idea of “happiness” seemed to take on a new shape when quarantine hit, and he was able to explore deeper into the meaning of his latest single “I Heard!”. He explains:
“‘I Heard!’ is about being trapped by the idea of happiness. That there’s always something better for you, but you don’t know how to get it. Or can’t get it right now. I thought the song was done and we even had a video in the works. But as quarantine started up, being physically trapped squeezed out the last of the idea, sort of the final straw. Something about longing for the things that I didn’t realize were making me happy helped me to recalibrate what life might feel like when it returns to normal.”
In the stunning and cinematic new music video, his hypnotic and philosophically-strung song beautifully opens up its lyrics, as he lists things he “heard” during his search for happiness. Shot during quarantine from his New York home, Moss enlisted the direction of Minneapolis filmmaker Matt Genesis for the production that overcame obstacles and miles alike.
Genesis and Moss worked together to build the short film, with Genesis controlling the cameras remotely and providing direction from video calls. Moss and his father handled all the gear and technical challenges from their home, taking on the responsibility of learning new skills and meticulously crafting the otherworldly video.
Matt Genesis shares about the experience, “We wanted to figure out a way to make this to the best of our abilities, not just the best for the circumstance. It wouldn’t have been as creatively fulfilling if we didn’t approach the project in the way that we did. That meant mailing a serious amount of gear, learning new skills, and not letting a problem get in the way of our enthusiasm. I think one of the most impressive aspects was how Elliot and his father stepped up and learned new skills on the fly in order to make this happen. We had to fully develop every shot and articulate every detail in order to get the result we were looking for. This meant 120-plus storyboards and taking photos of every frame beforehand so we could problem solve and get on the same page.”
The song’s dizzying and overwhelming search for happiness and success is masterful captured by a repeating piano chord and minimalistic percussion, creating a sense of urgency and apathy simultaneously as he repeats “I heard God controls our happiness and our lives”.
You can hear this song and more on our Starting Line-Up Spotify playlist.
