On November 5, 2021, Toronto’s Twin Rains are releasing ‘Believe it All’, the third single from their forthcoming LP Unreal City. The accompanying music video was shot in stunning black and white on one of Toronto’s busiest intersections. “I had this idea to do a music video of a street preacher,” says singer Christine Stoesser, who lives near Bloor and Dufferin. “I hear them all the time on the corner and thought it made sense with the song.”
Fatefully, she soon met director Jon Staav on a film shoot. They hit it off, the video concept came up, and Staav loved it. Better yet, he lived in the neighbourhood, and the idea of making some local street art during a pandemic appealed to him. He and the band established a mutual intention to make the concrete-and-chain-link Bloordale cityscape look beautiful. Staav called in cinematographer Victor Cahoj and video editor Samantha D’Alessio, with successful results.
‘Believe it All’ is a lush and dreamy float of a song, one that was written in an afternoon.
“It’s about misinformation, but not necessarily misinformation from the internet, although that’s part of it because it’s unescapable,” says Stoesser. “But I was writing more about the misinformation you feed yourself, in your own head. And how it can become a creed, and you start to believe it all.”
Though at first the band hadn’t wanted to star in the video, talking with Staav about working with an actor, they ultimately decided to take on the very public part.
“I loved the idea but was nervous if Christine would be able to pull off the act in front of the thousands of people who cross the corner everyday,” says the band’s Jay Merrow. “She is a shy person with strangers on top of it all, but she pulled it off! It wasn’t until after the shoot that she mentioned she felt embarrassed.”
‘Believe it All’ is the third single from the band’s sophomore LP, which will be released on November 19, 2021.
