Normally if someone told me I would be spending my
Saturday in a dark, cold, mineshaft with bats hanging upside down, I would not
be so eager to go. However, being in this Dahlonega mine shaft, while watching
Atlanta’s own Whiskey Gentry shoot their video for “Four Horsemen” was the
kind of visual experience that no one should miss. Director Matt Odom scoured
North Georgia to find the perfect location for the lost love ballad, and on this
past Saturday we grabbed our hard hats and picks and made the descent into
the Consolidated Gold Mines.
Odom’s concept for the video stemmed from his vision
of "Four Horsemen" as a gentle ballad about heartache, longing, and the slow creep
of deep emotions that are easier felt than explained. The song itself is a blend
of traditional country, gospel standards and poetic story telling. The "Four
Horsemen" video featured The Whiskey Gentry in three settings: a mine shaft, country woods and an old warehouse. The overall feel of the video was dreamlike, with strong uses of black and white, light and shadows, moving focal
points and shooting locations that evoke a feeling of loss, age and
darkness.
The five guys in the band were dressed up as coal
miners, which included covering themselves with actual coal, and Lauren Staley,
the band’s lead singer, served as the light focal point for the video,
angelically singing of the burning desire for her beloved to return the
emotion.
As heart-wrenching of a song this is, the band
themselves are a bunch of clowns, and most of the day was spent laughing,
quoting movie lines, and even in joining in on a real bluegrass band that set up
shop in the middle of downtown Dahlonega.
Helping Odom with the final editing will be Eric de
Fino, owner of Raygun, and the mastermind behind the ever-so-famous
Constellations videos. The video for “Four Horsemen” will be released in
October.
