Tag Archives: music video

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Lindsey Stirling’s New Music Video Brims with Joy

Stirlingites everywhere rejoice, for Lindsey’s music video for the song Guardian off her last album, Artemis, is out on YouTube! And it’s absolutely fabulous.

This is classic Lindsey showcasing everything she does best, but at the same time with every new shot we’re wondering what will come next. Viewers will know from past behind-the-scenes videos that this uniquely talented dancing violinist and composer takes her location scouting very seriously indeed! This is once again obvious in this music video, because the opening shot immediately took my breath away. Considering I just spent several days walking around my home city snapping every tree with autumn leaves on it, it’s an additional bonus to see these amazing backdrops here. OK, it’s not like we really did the same thing, but I can relate!

A lot of thought has clearly gone in to how the colors in these breathtaking landscapes work with Lindsey’s gorgeous costumes and ALL the visuals in this music video are simply stunning. It’s amazing how Lindsey translates her music to imagery, and the joyful notes in Guardian, equal parts delicate and strong, fly around the trees and mountains we see here. Lindsey’s video editing skills are also utilized to great effect, with seamless transitions between shots. Considering all the restrictions still in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, this video does a terrific job of conveying a soaring sense of freedom and space. The landscape theme also takes me back to Elements, one of my favourite songs and music videos ever.

Lindsey’s dancing while she plays (and not only then) is a jaw-dropping performance every time. The fluidity, the precision, the beauty, the strength, it’s all there. While we see those killer back bends and twirls throughout the video, I have to say, I’m floored by those precise energetic moves in ballet slippers on rocky terrain and the forest floor.

I think WOW is the only appropriate response. I’m off to fangirl some more.

 

 

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Lost Girls by Lindsey Stirling

Lost Girls is the first track on Lindsey Stirling’s latest album Brave Enough. It opens with tentative, probing notes that make one think of slow drops of melting ice or ripples on the surface of a quiet lake. And then, like most of the tracks on the album, it surprises you with the change of pace as you become absorbed in the story Lindsey is telling.

The story is of coming back from fear and loss. But not just that. Lindsey explains it herself in more detail, saying that the focus of the song and the video’s visualization is on what happens after recovery, the courage it takes to stay on the hard-won path. Lost Girls brilliantly picks up where Shatter Me from Lindsey’s sophmore album Beyond the Veil left off. It’s thrilling to see that the story can be further pursued, and thankfully in this case the sequel concept works flawlessly, building up on the solid base of the prequel and at the same time yet again drawing the viewer in to an immersive new world – trademark Stirling.

Fans will recognize some of the dancers from her recent tours, though they are transformed so convincingly thanks to costumes and make-up, that the creatures they are playing seem almost real, as well as terrifying. At the center of it all is, of course, Lindsey’s wide-eyed, but no longer helpless ballerina, lost and found again.

 

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The Arena by Lindsey Stirling

The inspirational, home-hitting and ever relevant quote from Theodore Roosevelt about facing life and what courage really is opens Lindsey Stirling’s latest music video, The Arena. And Lindsey would know, through personal experience, and in thinking this I immediately go back in my mind to her autobiography The Only Pirate at the Party. Many will shout, only a few will do – an ongoing theme in her music.

Visually grittier than most of Lindsey’s previous music videos, The Arena shows a story set in a seemingly fantastic space, but immediately painfully realistic in the scenes it depicts. People are thrown in to the fray of life for whatever reason, and even without actual lions waiting to pounce, the frowning crowd watching emanates a threatening sense that this could get ugly, as Lindsey and her partner, played by Derek Hough, move towards the center of this arena.

Is it a dying circus? A gang? Steam punk meets tribal meets Western meets dystopia? As always in Lindsey’s videos, the myriad of genres, ideas, associations and styles blends together to create something unique and memorable. Stepping next to a partner (relatively new for Lindsey) who looks like one of the fastest ballroom dancers in the world, her petite form is more obvious, but her posture is both graceful and determinedly strong at the same time.

It’s like Roundtable Rival flipped over, a mirror version, but in a world grey and desolate. Something needs to be reclaimed here. Love? Self-respect? Bravery? Happiness?

The sharpness of Lindsey’s violin cuts through my hearing, matching the dizzying speed of the dance movements. Once again both take my breath away.

Welcome to The Arena.

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Lindsey Stirling. Night Vision

Lindsey Stirling has released a new music video! Oh joy! Repeated viewing and sharing of opinions required. What’s different in this video is that she integrates a promo for her upcoming 2016 summer tour (in the U.S. and Canada, plus one stop in Berlin at Lollapalooza this September, according to her official website). Go, Lindsey!

Considering how busy she is and how much mind-blowing output she regularly generates, the additional promise of a new album leaves me tingling with anticipation and admiration as well. Both of her previous albums still feel fresh and energetic, and listening to them on repeat is something my week cannot do without.

But back to Night Vision. This is one of my favourite tracks, because the way the music sounds and the way the various violin tones come together, especially the lower ones, make images of nighttime landscapes pop up in my mind, and fluorescent lights were in there as well. So it’s exciting to see Lindsey incorporate just that in to her music video. Not to mention the nods to superwoman themes, the action genre, and clearly Mission Impossible. Lindsey becomes her own super-violinist, dancing and playing her way through a laser maze in a black leather suit to let fans know about her news.

Strong, graceful, spunky, sharp of step and quick of bow – in short, Lindsey Stirling.

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