Before the fade, videoclip
Before the fade is a collaboration between visual artist Paulien Oltheten and musician and composer Eilander, whose personal song deals with insomnia and introversion. Oltheten’s accompanying images make the song a universal story about the day’s bustle and cadence, the working week, and current times. The video features images of people either going with the flow or attempting to shut themselves off from it. The throngs of Parisians glued to telephones or books and who populate the clip while hastily walking or rolling gracefully seem only to be connected in their isolation. Is this calming or oppressive?
Oltheten has worked with images that also appear in her video photo essay La Défense, the Venturing Gaze (2018) where she followed and filmed people for a more extended period in the financial district of Paris. In this ‘impersonal’ district, she entered into personal relationships with a few passers-by she chose to follow.
‘Before the Fade’
Music Video clip Written and composed by Eilander (Marcus Bruystens)
Video by Paulien Oltheten / Music by Eilander / Vocals: Carol Van Dyk / Drums: Ferdinand Boonenkamp / ‘Hey’: Sema Bekirovic