Follow us on Twitter & Facebook
Julia Weldon Takes It Back to the Classroom in 'Soon II' Video:
Julia Weldon
The visual was shot by a 17-year old director and current high school student, capturing the hardship of teenage romance and the ensuing drama.
In Julia Weldon’s impactful “Soon II” video, the
hardship of high school romance and the ensuing drama is recounted
through the eyes of the Brooklyn indie-folk singer and someone currently
in the thick of it -- the video’s 17-year old director.
The
influence of director and current student Kevin von Puttkammer's high
school experience in northern New Jersey is clearly apparent in the
video. Not only did it serve as the set for the one-day shoot, but it
was during a Weldon’s annual guest visit for the school’s National
Poetry Day event that she linked up with von Puttkammer while he was
snapping pictures.
“[National Poetry Day] is always a rad
experience because high school was when I really delved into songwriting
as a way to get through hard feelings, but this past year was even more
special because I met Kevin,” Weldon tells Billboard. “I could tell he had a great eye so I sent along my new album Comatose Hope and
we started chatting about working on a music video... Before I knew it,
Kevin had carefully selected his favorite track on the album, written
up a professional treatment and put together a full cast and crew.”
The resulting video is full of difficult interactions and heartbreak
that always feel realistic and relatable, an advantage of having a
director still tied so closely to the setting. To his credit, von
Puttkammer and a group of friends approached the somber track with a
maturity and proficiency not typically associated with young filmmakers.
Kevin
looks back on the shoot like a crash course learning experience,
saying, “Through preparing, producing and finally editing the project, I
worked with singers, producers, colorists and finished the music video
with more professional experience than I could have imagined obtaining
in my junior year of high school.”
The honest portrayal of high
school life is punctuated by Weldon’s effortlessly affecting voice that
astonishes and eases with its disarming vulnerability. The delicate
power behind their voice is especially genuine as “Soon II” is part of a
collection of songs inspired by Weldon’s harrowing experience in a coma
after gender affirming surgery.
The incident led to what would become Comatose Hope,
Weldon’s second studio album which was released independently on July
13. It was recorded in London and produced by Drew Morgan (producer for Perfume Genius). As for “Soon II,” the video is yet another entry in a project built on unexpected circumstance.
“I never thought Comatose Hope would include a music video directed by a 17-year old, but I'm feeling pretty lucky it does,” Weldon beams.
Check out the video for “Soon II” below.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments Are Moderated And Saved