The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s apathy. Roller Derby’s latest single, “Starry-Eyed”, walks through the grief and pain of losing emotional access to your partner.
Manuel Romero Soria’s haunting guitar riffs start soft and mild. Even the driving drumbeat feels tempered at first. But as the song progresses, the intensity ratchets up. Max Neilsen’s basslines grow stronger and Philine Meyer’s voice pushes through the suffering to dial in the ache. “Talk to me. I wanna feel your misery,” she cries.
By the time the final chorus roars in, the energy is primed for an emotional explosion. Throughout this track, the music video follows a woman confronted by her past self. The visual treatment makes everything feel quasi-illustrated. The not-quite-real feeling also lies in the accidental choice to focus on Ukrainian queues.
Even though the video was shot before the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, there’s something very timely about celebrating that culture. The video was shot in a Ukrainian memorial park in Curitiba, Brazil; the church is a memorial to Holodomor (the 1930’s Ukrainian famine); the headdress the woman wears is something from Ukrainian festive days. It may be serendipitous, but that doesn’t make it any less moving.
Watch “Starry-Eyed” below.
Ben is an advertising Madman who spends his days with words and music. When he’s not writing for his supper, he’s eating it at some of NYC’s most interesting restaurants.
