The video for ‘In Shadowland’, the newest song from Bruce Sudano, is a work of art. Each detail has been thoughtfully considered, each shot carefully composed, and each scene cleverly arranged. There’s a play of colour, light, shape, and perspective that’s absolutely unique. The peculiar magic of the video is contained in the small things: the silhouette of a woman against a pink and white tower block, the geometric shape of her single earring, the shadow of a potted fern in a patch of angled sunlight, the slow closing of a shutter. It’s all hypnotic, hushed, a secret language whispered to the viewer that becomes clearer as the video’s narrative unfolds.
Even these early moments don’t prepare you for the truly astounding, mesmerising special effects generated by VFX-3D wizard Claudio Bellini. Directed by Furio Ganz, Bruce Sudano’s music is matched with images that are at once psychedelic and intimate and find a middle ground between the personal and the cosmic. They described the clip as “illusionary,” and it’s not long before you realise exactly what they mean by that.
Everything about the song is designed to draw the listener in deeper: the hushed quality of Sudano’s vocals, the enveloping thrum of his guitar, the preternatural balance of the arrangement, and the intriguing lyrics. As a teaser for his upcoming album, ‘Ode To A Nightingale’, it’s hard to imagine anything better.
Sudano only appears on the screen of a mobile phone in the video for ‘In Shadowland’, but the phone has some astonishing capabilities, and it’s strongly implied that he’s the reason for that. The phone is in the hands of Venetian-born film actress Maria Roveran, and the camera follows her as she races from a city street to a country meadow. There, the phone in her hands becomes the carrier of an otherworldly message — one that takes a bizarre and beautiful shape in the sky overhead and threatens to overwhelm her with wonder.
Watch ‘In Shadowland’ below. Catch up with Bruce Sudano online on his official website.
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