By Will Yannacoulias
Photos by Natasha Bigeau
On Valentine’s Day 2020 The Pxrtals released their second LP, the brilliant, bold and ambitious One Night. An album of swirling layered psychedelic alternative rock dedicated to the joy, adventure, complexity and messiness of love, One Night concludes with the haunting ballad “She’s Gone”. As love was a major theme of the album, the resignation of a love lost stands as a poignant, fitting adieu. Exactly three years to the day after the release of One Night, The Pxrtals have teamed up with Regina based filmmaker Aaron Sinclair to release a video for “She’s Gone” as a Valentine to all those who have loved and lost. The video features nostalgic scenes of lovers gone and the lonely hearts left behind, set to the lush arrangement of the original piano ballad.
Filmmaker Aaron Sinclair shared his vision for the film and how this was shaped by the emotional palette of "She's Gone", saying "the song gave me a strong feeling about what it's like to lose someone who is a key part of your world and how devastating that is. We tend to think of that in romantic situations- and that is certainly represented within the video - but I also thought about how that can happen in other relationships and how it can be equally devasting and sometimes it can really catch a person off guard. I think taking this approach allowed us to build a vibrant world full of unique and diverse characters, instead of just telling the story of one romance falling apart."
Songwriter Lévi Soulodre delved deeply into the meaning and message of the song, both as an end and a new beginning. "'She's Gone' is a bittersweet closing in a sense of the album narrative" shared Soulodre. "I also find 'She's Gone' is ripe with the idea of hope, springing from the garden of romantic fantasies. One Night, and the preceding album, Un Jour, look to manifest that broken, burnt, lost end-of-love feeling into the impassioned flames of a new metaphorical Phoenix to rise. The ultimate balance of people really creating a connection and coming together in the whole of the universe, for a lifetime, or even if only for one night, or beyond... this is the overall sense and energy of 'She's Gone', recognizing the ever-present grace of hope, resiliency, and love everlasting."
With that, please enjoy the premiere of The Pxtrals "She's Gone"!