Video Premiere: Inwards – Dart

In recent times the music video has become a lost art form as such, with endless streaming platforms leading the charge and shaping the way in which we consume and listen to music. This is why it is exciting and emboldening when a record label chooses to invest in an artist and showcase a visual accompaniment to a piece of music… 

Small Pond have been championing this niche for several years, however the latest video guide to a new track by Inwards is perhaps one of their best. "Dart" is a track already available as part of the "Feelings Of Unreality" EP, a record which has already received critical acclaim and support. This week see's the release of a music video which sits alongside this dystopian, ethereal piece of music and is as haunting and odd as you might expect. 

Director Ali Gill describes it as follows:

“The track had this hypnotic, trance-like quality – listening to it almost felt like you were inside a daydream. Yet there was also quite a fast, kinetic feel to the track that immediately stood out. So I wanted to do a video that was both psychological and also had a quick and jerky aesthetic that matched the track’s rhythm. 

I came up with this idea of journeying down the rabbit hole of a character’s subconscious – showing a series of different dream levels, but showing it from the perspective of this high-speed roving camera, as if we are a floating eye spying on each dream level.

I love the way Michel Gondry moves the camera in his music videos – he swings the camera around the set quite loosely, giving this really subjective, voyeuristic feeing. That was definitely something we wanted to emulate for this video and kept in mind throughout the shoot. 

I also wanted the video to have an uncanny, hyperreal feel to it. As well as speeding up the footage in the edit, we got Paul (Huntley-Thomas, the video’s actor) to perform each scene in an overly animated, angular manner. Trying to nail the style of movement was probably the most satisfying part of the shoot – working out how you would walk in circles, or move furniture, in a “dream-like” way.”

Watch below: 

Buy the EP HERE.