BrooklynVegan has premiered “La Jetée”, the latest video from German post-hardcore outfit OAKHANDS. The track comes off the band’s debut full-length, The Shadow of Your Guard Receding, which dropped last week through This Charming Man Records.
“La Jetée” deals with obsession – it’s inspired by the experimental French science fiction short film „La Jetée“, in which obsession makes the protagonist blind to his own death. In the song, blindness is used consistently as a metaphor for obsession, and at the same time as a consequence of obsession. The narrator deals with no one but himself, as the only perspective that matters is that of the narrator. He draws a picture of a romantic relationship, although it’s only about himself. The words and the melodies consist of romantic cliches – the words could stem from literally any love song. The relationship in the song is thus one sided, based on obsessions which obscure the narrator’s perspective and leads to his blindness (the metaphor and consequence of obsession). Making one’s perspective, one’s own feelings the only thing that counts is toxic masculinity and this is what the song calls out and criticizes.
The video takes a different approach to this perspective, focussing on human sight as a topic.
Blindness is characterized by an unstructured but nevertheless emotional dance choreography. The camera and the viewer act as a dancing partners, following the blind dancer in the video closely. The viewers’ perspective constantly evolves throughout the video as they recognize the different formations that the band are playing. The musician’s glances are finally brought into the foreground in slow motion. And in between it all, the video allures to the other two layers of storytelling in the series by interposing it’s very own actors.
“It covers a lot of ground across its 11 songs, including Touche Amore-style post-hardcore, soaring post-rock, melodic early 2000s-style emo, singer/songwriter-y indie rock, and more, and Oakhands have no trouble making it all sound cohesive.” BrooklynVegan
For fans of: Foxing, The Tidal Sleep, The World Is A Beautiful Place, Touche Amore
“The Shadow of Your Guard Receding is an unexpected work of art that I thoroughly loved from start to finish. Not a single song feels uninspired, and the entire album has so many different elements that made for an unforgettable experience.” Everything Is Noise
Oakhands from Munich, Germany built their house right on the borders of post-hardcore, emo and indierock. Their debut “The Shadow of Your Guard Receding” , released in Spring 2020 by This Charming Man Records, is the follow up to their critically acclaimed EP released by Uncle M in 2016. The band’s new album will bring you 11 brand new tunes about family, mental health, social anxiety and masculinity in one’s modern society, full of emotions and with its aesthetic compareable to the writers approach of the “Sturm & Drang“ period. To get an idea what the music sounds like take a look at the video for the track – “The Parnassus” which is the Oakhands first single from the upcoming album. Their musical complexity and metaphorical abstraction in the form of storytelling may seem a bit artsy and stand in contrast to their stripped down live performances. Even so, they challenge the listener and bring an entirely new sound to “The Shadow of Your Guard Receding“, which will be visualized by 7 conceptual videos telling one story on 3 different layers – so please dive into the world of Oakhands with all your concentration and passion you have for this adventurous piece of music.
