The video for ‘Glory’, the first official single from electronic musician Jean-Michel Jarre‘s upcoming studio album featuring fellow Frenchman M83 is out now. For it, Jarre tapped burgeoning French-Italian director Lisa Paclet to visualize the song. Her intention, she says, was “to make a film which glorifies human action, any action, even if completely meaningless.”
‘Glory,’ which Jarre built from the ground up around M83’s Anthony Gonzalez’ voice, makes the perfect backdrop to her melancholy take on abstract athletics. “When I listened to ‘Glory,’ I was struck by the lyrics ‘We could never have it all.’ That to me crystallized a very contemporary feeling of impotence. Jean-Michel Jarre told me he wanted the video to be ‘dark and sunny,’ so I opted for a slightly sardonic take on the concept of glory. I wanted to glorify useless action though a series of absurd sports, preformed by athletes that run after unreachable, constantly shifting goals. Their performances are scrutinized by a uniform, stoic, public; whose reaction to their efforts is synchronized and coordinated like a well oiled machine,” adds Paclet. “As the clip progresses the athletes subtly rebel against their pointless task, either though deliberate action of failure, breaking the repetitive cycle to which they are constrained. Their failures reveal a breach of humanity, which ricochets within the public; who in turn reacts in a progressively entropic fashion.”
In addition to the video, new Jarre tracks ‘Conquistador’ with Gesaffelstein; ‘Watching You’ with Massive Attack’s Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja; and ‘Zero Gravity,’ Jarre’s new composition with Tangerine Dream will be released as vinyl EPs through The Vinyl Factory on 30th June, with each 12-inch limited to 1000 copies. ‘Zero Gravity’ is one of the final recordings Tangerine Dream’s Edgar Froese made before his passing earlier this year. Jarre recently revealed this track story with the late musician: http://www.vevo.com/watch/jean-michel-jarre/Jean-Michel-Jarre-with-Tangerine-Dream-Track-Story/UK9LA1400133
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