Nestled at the seventh track of Polaris‘ The Mortal Coil album is “Dusk To Day”. Unassuming and serene at first, this beauty soon packs a punch. Sydneysiders Jamie Hails (vocals), Jake Steinhauser (bass & vocals), Rick Schneider (guitar), Ryan Siew (guitar), and Daniel Furnari (drums) have today released a music video for the track. And boy is it incredible.
Another masterpiece from Kieran Ellis-Jones and Crystal Arrow Films, the cinematic music video powerfully enhances what Polaris express with their song. We observe a person who keeps noticing some very strange things happening to people around him. With “Dusk To Day”‘s distinct looped melody and a sense of ticking time, we watch as the character sees night turn to morning, laying awake in confusion and discomfort, and feeling more and more alone.
“Nights spent staring down the barrel, defiantly”
“Dusk To Day” shows a lesser seen side of Jamie Hails’ vocals, as well as those screams we know and love in full flight; with the cleanly sung verses painting dread before building into searing frustration. With skillful guitar entrapment and crushed by riff heaviness, we’re pulled into the overnight clock-watching insomnia under the weight of fears and doubts, only seeming to break free at the chorus.
In the silence of the dark, and with self-image contorted, the music video’s character comes face-to-face with himself: A powerful metaphor as well as being a stunning visual homage to The Mortal Coil‘s album cover as he falls backwards. Showered by rain as the song is powerfully played by the band (“But when it rains, it fucking pours all over me”) is yet another nod to what’s already been created, and it’s unsurprising to see Polaris’ lyricist (and drummer) Daniel Furnari credited as contributing to the video concept along with Kieran Ellis-Jones.
In Daniel’s words: “This was definitely our most ambitious clip in terms of concept and execution, and it was really exciting to work on something with more of a visual narrative which we haven’t done in quite a while, with our friend Kieran Ellis Jones who we’ve been wanting to work with for a long time!”
Daniel adds that the track is lyrically dealing with insomnia, “which is something that a couple of members of the band have really struggled with. It’s a song about that awful consuming anxiety that can comes from being awake when everyone else is at peace, and the way that can play tricks on the mind when it’s allowed to wander. After tossing around a few ideas we realised that to get this right we would have to tap into a feeling of paranoia, so we started to develop our own little psychological thriller short-film.”
As well as being creatively impactful, the video is yet another reminder of this band being on top of their game and continuing to wow with each forward step. As “Dusk To Day” comes to a powerful close, Ryan Siew’s ripping guitar solo bleeds out into Jamie’s fiery vocal frustration, before Jake Steinhauser’s stunning clean vocals and impressive riffs find us again to a looped melody, waiting for night to pass.
Watch:
