Released today, “Thanatos” marks chapter one of the music video series for Nonsense Mouth, a surreal and lyrical visual album in six chapters by theatrical composer Ellen Warkentine. The release explores “the heroine’s journey and themes of identity and individuation.” This visually striking and symbolically rich music video was choreographed by Anjela Vega for one slow-motion 30-minute take, and then sped up to create the hyperlapse effect.
Per the artist, it’s “namely about the Freudian concept of the ‘death instinct,’ the drive towards destruction, and the complicated matter of sitting in your own soul seat. It’s the first in a series of music videos that are essentially a ‘heroine’s journey’ towards rebirth, acceptance and individuation.”
Warkentine, an Ovation-award winning composer with the LA-based “junkyard opera” company Four Larks, shows both her talents as a musician and visual artist with this effort. The track itself features escalating vocals meshing beautifully with emotive piano, ruminating acoustics, and some bells casting a holiday feel. The video is a striking success as well, seeing the growth of a wintry background, as the forefront features artists embracing and showing the power of collaboration. “Thanatos” in all forms is engrossing, and an excellent first chapter for the music video series.
Releasing later this month is the music video “Nonsense Mouth,” chapter two of the series, which follows the ““heroine’s journey” into the unconscious, the “dark forest,” where the heroine is confronted with the creatures of her psyche who lead her further into layers of her being.”
