[gtranslate]
News

PREMIERE: Grawlixes show you exactly what love looks like in their raw new clip Lover Boy

Living up to the intimate lyrics expressed throughout the track, the video for Lover Boy is a passionate pronouncement of two lovers falling deeper into their blossoming relationship.

New Zealand duo Grawlixes have just released an intimate new video for Lover Boy, a heavily emotional track that conveys a truthful narrative. Songwriter Robin Cederman was kind enough to share the genesis of the clip with us:

Initially our idea was to only have the footage with Paul and Laurie (the love actors) but when Sam did an initial edit it came across as soft porn; and caucasian, heteronormative soft porn at that – how passe!”

“In short, the video was a bit icky and didn’t have a story so we decided to shoot some contrasting stuff meant to explore the doubt expressed in the song. And in the end, the video presents both the initial excitement and idealisation you feel at the beginning of relationships and also the fear and doubt.”

Acting as a visual equivalent to what is a soft and organic sounding track, Lover Boy is a compilation of shots contrasting between a narrative of two lovers and the musical talent of Robin and Penelope. With the pair recently calling their own relationship quits, the clip juxtaposes a blossoming love to one that was recently lost.

Pen and I used to be together but broke up shortly after we finished recording the album, so the footage of us is fairly representative of real life, and was a wonderful opportunity for us to reacquaint ourselves with the crushing sadness of the past!

With such detail-orientated shots accurately portraying how two people head over heels in love would look, video creator Sam Cadwell has nailed all production elements, from direction right down to shooting and editing.

It was filmed in three different locations. The idealised couple stuff was filmed at a friend of a friend’s house up in the green hills of Wellington which they graciously vacated for several afternoons. The footage of Pen and I was filmed at our respective flats: conservatory, kitchen, bedrooms, bath – all classic settings for the disintegration of a relationship.

Capturing every intimate moment from eye contact to gentle breezes to facial expressions that reveal a story within themselves, Cadwell worked with a limited budget to create a powerful yet diverse video.

It was the song that resonated most with Sam, and it’s a song I was particularly happy with (there’s a reason we put it third on the album). Plus, Lover Boy is also my Dad’s favourite (Freud’s welcome to any party of mine).”

“It also seemed as if the song would be fairly easy to represent visually because the lyrics are so direct, and ease is pretty key when your budget is so constraining.”

Grawlixes’ debut album Set Free is out now.