Sydney-based Electronic Soul duo, breathe., have released the music video for their latest single, “Grace,” out via Silk.
On “Grace,” the band’s fourth single since their inception in 2018, they channel a familiar vibe – they’re not straying from that signature, late-night drive sound. In fact, on this track, they hit all of those same spots sonically. The vocals we hear are laden with reverb (with added vocals from Sydney’s Eleanor Jacks), as is the chugging percussion that is so masterfully tucked into the fold of the song. The background employed, from piano to guitar to jazz sampling and deep sub-bass, would fit right at home at the climax of a Christopher Nolan film. Together, the whole track gives the listener the feeling of being one with the atmosphere – the feeling of being free of gravity.
Although the song itself is sonically brilliant, the real beauty of “Grace” comes with the meaning and story behind it. In 2018, band member Sean Walker’s twin, Tommy Walker, was badly injured in a horrific motorcycle accident. According to Tommy, they broke their back, ribs, and pelvis, and suffered nerve damage in their right arm, all of which left them immobile and in recovery for over a year. Now, after undergoing intense rehabilitation and physical therapy, Tommy can now express themselves through movement and dance, something that they love to do. In that vein, “Grace,” both the single and music video, are, as Sean writes at the beginning of the video, “Dedicated to my twin. In celebration of your survival.”
The video starts with a glimpse of a small, dark room, with Tommy in the center. Right off the bat, we get the sense this video carries an immense amount of weight. The lighting and shadowing of the room cloud Tommy’s body from the viewer, but we can see that they are dancing. As the song progresses and we reach verse and chorus, the views change and brighten. In the chorus, we are met with a stanza of powerful and poignant lyrics about breaking barriers. When the band sings “Moving gracefully/ You do not know me/ I am unbreakable/ Confident and free,” all with Tommy dancing in the background, it’s a moment of catharsis that screams at you to dig deeper. No longer trapped by their own body (symbolized by the tight, constrained room we’re shown first), Tommy is fully able to express themselves freely through movement and dance. At the climax of the song, the camera perspective shifts. We’re shown a completely different shot, one where Tommy is in that same room, only we can now see that it’s a much larger stage. Vibrant colors frame the background of the shot, and there’s an almost metamorphic feel to the moment. Tommy has emerged, not only a survivor, but someone who has triumphed over their accident and even their own body. Again, that anti-gravity vibe.
Filmed at Sydney’s Red Rattler Theatre, a famous Queer-run “creative playground,” the video celebrates not only Tommy’s recovery, but their queerness as well. According to breathe., Red Rattler is “a space where, growing up, Tommy felt safe and comfortable to be wholeheartedly and completely themselves, a place where they found their family, and their identity.” Along with transcending the limitations caused by their accident, I also see the music video as a display of Tommy’s liberation from a conformist society, one dependent on labels to box people into “normative” roles. Tommy’s broken free from the room of darkness onto the stage to show the world who they are – someone who has survived and will seize that second chance to celebrate their true selves. We should all strive to be a little more like Tommy; a little bit more ourselves.
With a powerful and poignant visual accompaniment to their new single, “Grace”, breathe. deliver a message of survival, pride, and liberation.
