Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu unveil a video for the song Back To Rock, off their new album Renegade Breakdown. It’s one of the first tracks they recorded as a trio, and the track became a kind of blueprint for them to distil their various influences into new and exciting forms. The resulting album, released on September 25th via Bonsound (Canada) and Ninja Tune (ROW), is a bold reimagining of Marie Davidson’s sound, and has been praised widely by the likes of The Guardian, Pitchfork and The New Yorker. Bandcamp listed the record amongst their “Best Albums of Summer” and multiple outlets voiced their support, including FADER, Billboard, Exclaim, DAZED, Vulture, and NME.
Directed by Loïc Darses, the cinematic short film sets Marie in an empty nightclub at the end of her last live club set. The video follows her on a physical and metaphorical journey of self-imposed exile as she drags her massive road case behind her, like Sisyphus’s burden. She moves through semi-dreamlike industrial wastelands, where abandoned non-descript locations mingle with lost oil refinement factories to form breathtaking surrealist tableaus of urban decay, before eventually reaching a final point of cathartic release.
I always envisioned that my first music video would have to be somewhat of a special thing for me on a personal level, tells director Loïc Darses. When Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu approached me, aiming to visually tell the story behind their new album’s creative turn, I knew this was the one.
Leaning away from the electronic beats that have defined Marie Davidson so far, Back To Rock is a long and powerful confession, a melancholic prog ballad that showcases the musicians’ choice to record with classic instruments like drums, guitar, bass, and piano. Back To Rock is the song from our new album that is the closest to my heart, and this is because it’s my most sincere lyrics to date, explains Marie. The song’s story, beautifully illustrated by Loïc Darses in the music video, is about my personal struggles to change. It’s about letting die some elements within oneself to allow new things to be born.
About Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu
Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu is a trio formed of three old-time friends and long-term collaborators with shared roots in Montreal’s DIY scene: Marie, Pierre Guerineau and Asaël R. Robitaille (Marie and Pierre are married, and are partners in the group Essaie pas). Intrigued by the Eternal Return concept, they deliver a forward-facing, innovative pop record that builds on the classic tenets of Marie’s music to create something that reaches for a broader audience. Eternally subversive, and committed to taking a new direction, Marie Davidson wanted to experience the camaraderie of making music with the people she knows best. All of them were enticed by the idea of doing things differently. Their first proper release as a group, after years of friendship, marks a new era that draws from the reaches of their diverse musical interests.
The music video was created thanks to the support of FACTOR Canada and the MVP Project, a joint initiative of RBCxMusic and the Prism Prize (administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television).
