Writer/Director/Producer - Jon Hozier-Byrne
DoP - Tommy Fitzgerald
Producer - Donna Doyle

It’s well documented that the last decade has seen a huge shift in both marketing and video production towards the experiential. The most globally consumed pieces of video content are, in essence, reaction videos with ridiculous production values, and as such, moments of spontaneous, emotive authenticity hold a tremendous cultural appeal. This video was an attempt to capture some of those authentic moments, but to do so in a way that would both feel cinematic, and lend itself to a broader reflection on the themes of isolation.

I’ve long felt that, from a young age, people make art to communicate with people without having to communicate with people. The lyrics here speak to a sense isolation, a beautifully understated meditation on small-town life, of vaulting ambition contrasted with underwhelming reality. Throughout the track, the artist describes rural Ireland as seen from the interior of his car, at once part of world around him, yet fundamentally removed. In conversation with the artist, I learned of his considerable shyness, his uneasiness in social situations, which felt like an interesting contrast for a performer. I wanted to visually convey this isolation in a literal sense, to create a physical boundary between him and the people of Dublin, and to attempt to capture their authentic reaction, suspecting that the most likely outcome would be creating content for social media, itself a catalyst for that same sense of social removal.

I wanted to contrast the busy nightlife of Dublin on a Saturday night with the stark isolation the Burren. There’s something about the stark, barren landscape that makes standing in the Burren feel akin to being on another planet. My hope was that by contrasting authentic, emotive crowd reaction with a visual representation of social remoteness, I might be able to capture the juxtaposition posed by the themes of the track. Ultimately, as the sun rises on the Burren, the isolated vignette proves to be the location in which the artist can find some solace.