It began with a cup of coffee.
On a night in January this year, folk singer Simon Fagan met Eddy Ballardi in a local cafe bar in Kreuzberg, Berlin, to start developing a story that Simon wanted as the video for his latest single. Eddy had heard the song, loved it, and had begun visualizing the video's cinematic concept.
The single in question was ‘Preachers’, an elegant folk track, blended with deep and dirty shades of borrowed Americana. It was one of the earliest songs recorded for Simon’s second album, Gilded Bird, and would be the first single released to the public.
The Irish-born singer knew that he wanted to tell a dark story with this video; a tale of villainy, of revenge and reckoning. Characters from the song had been rattling ‘round his head for a while – a preacher, a young girl, an abductor.
What followed, then, was a number of late night discussions, more strong coffee, and a slash and burn of different ideas.
Finally, after three nights, filming took place. Over the course of 14 hours, and in the middle of Berlin’s unforgiving winter with hard snow on the ground and in below-freezing temperatures, the video was filmed with a cracking international cast and crew.
The result is an intriguing and striking visual accompaniment to Simon’s beguiling track, which both he, Eddy and all involved hope you really like – Enjoy!
‘Preachers’, the first single off Gilded Bird, is released on Friday 11th March 2016.
simonfagan.net/ facebook.com/simonfaganmusic
Video cast: Preacher: Simon Fagan Abductor: Marc Philipps (marc-philipps.de/) Young girl: Juliette Pellot Girl: Jane Shoe
Video crew: Scripts: Simon Fagan Eddy Ballardi Director / DOP / Editor / Post-production: Eddy Ballardi Camera: Jurgen Pellot Lights: Esteban Rivera Makeup Artist / Hair / Costume: Jule Buchin Props and Transportation: Jurgen Pellot & Miguel Mitlag
