Wandering Blind offer up the veritable dream run of inspiration that is behind their visualiser ‘Only A Matter of Time’
Gold Coast’s Wandering Blind effortlessly blend indie rock vibes with a poppy twist in their latest tune, “Only A Matter Of Time.”
This track dives deep into their personal struggles with doubt, pain, and the great unknown that lies ahead. Now, when it comes to the music video, these folks teamed up with the talented director Eloise Bowden, and let us tell you, it’s right up our alley – a total moody visual feast.
They drew inspiration from classic films like Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” and Wenders’ “Wings of Desire,” giving the video this striking yet beautifully raw feel. “True Detective” played a big role too, weaving in themes of light versus dark and the never-ending loop of time.
Wandering Blind’s got influences from iconic photographers like Corbjin and Griffiths, and nods to legendary music videos from Talking Heads and Magazine. It’s like they’ve brewed a whole potion of creative inspiration!
And of course, art isn’t left behind. Rembrandt’s genius lighting techniques, Pivovarov’s evocative painting, and Wyeth’s nostalgic framing all play a part.
They’ve got religion in the mix too, flipping conventions on their heads with their choice of costumes and reimagining death itself.
Wandering Blind’s “Only A Matter Of Time” is like a visual and sonic adventure, melding the everyday with the supernatural. If you’re up for it, give it a whirl here. Enjoy the ride!
What Inspired the Music Video For Only A Matter Of Time
When we were creating the music video idea, I had a lot of rough ideas for what we should do and what should inspire it. With my very patient friend and extremely talented director, Eloise Bowden, we were able to narrow it down into one amazingly shot music video.
Movies & TV
The Seventh Seal
Perhaps the piece of media that inspired this music video the most, we really ran with the themes and how they played into the song. We really liked the timeless nature of the story and felt that some of the iconography and its locations were perfect ways to explore fate and the passing of time. There’s also a lot of religious subtext that we really leaned into to give the music video a feeling in the wider world.
Wings of Desire
Originally I wanted to make the video in colour, but it was this along with Zed McMahon and Eloise’s input that changed that. The lack of colour in this movie really gives a stark beauty to the imagery and made it the cult movie it is. The thought of that and the hopes we have for ourselves and our music really gave us something to ponder.
True Detective
In True Detective, they discuss a lot of theological ideas that we enjoyed. Particularly the idea that time is a flat circle where we are doomed to repeat our actions in some cosmic play and this whole idea of light versus dark. That definitely comes across with the costumes with one being a very muted colour palette and the other being very bright. There’s also a lot of references to Lovecraft which gives the world this overarching lore to build off, which is what we wanted to do with references to religion.
Photographers
Anton Corbjin
This release and the media around it has had a very post punk palette and it’s more than likely thanks to my love of this man’s photography. Eloise was converted pretty early when we were creating a mood board. His work with Depeche Mode and Joy Division was ubiquitous to how we approached the concepts and framing. Particular Eloise really loved the use of lighting for his photos of Ian Curtis and I feel that really shines through. There’s also this stunning shot of Echo & the Bunnymen in the Bring on the Dancing Horses video that really is one of those great band images.
Brian Griffiths
It wasn’t the way he shot people but the way he made them a part of the location that really stuck out to us. I’m a huge fan of the first four Echo & the Bunnymen albums and the covers are simply sublime. The whole elemental approach went straight to our moodboard and never really left, particularly all the shots he took for Heaven Up Here. I don’t think there’s anything in our style, music or image that hasn’t at least got some of Echo & the Bunnymen’s DNA within it.
Other Music Videos
Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime
The whole strange and twisted movement of David Byrne was really influential to the whole setting of the bits where there’s the performance element. Only A Matter Of Time has a really janky rhythm to it so the movement really helped us envision how we needed the dancing to appear.
Magazine – Cut Out Shapes
One of the things I like about videos is when they only focus on elements of the face. For a lot of this video Howard Devoto is in extreme close up and his eyes are piercing through the entire time. This along with Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour prom picture, where she has the running mascara, really helped with us pushing this whole dancing while crying vibe that the song has.
Art
Rembrandt
If we had a dollar for everytime Rembrandt Lighting was mentioned on set, we probably would’ve actually been running at a profit. But it’s this really cool way of lighting that I never knew was a thing until everyone who was recording or just in the vicinity was well aware of.
Victor Pivovarov
There’s this painting called Fear Paralyses the Will that shows a hooded figure embracing a bald figure and it has a comforting feel. It shows this dichotomy of death being feared and welcoming, which is how the character should be portrayed.
Andrew Wyeth
There’s a lot of Wyeth’s work that I really enjoy and his framing of locations was also very important to visualising the way the video would look. In my mind I envisioned the very simple locations in a similar hue of nostalgia to the one he creates.
Religion
There was a lot of use of religious iconography to create a universe that is succinct to ours with, to pull it into the real world. This goes from the costuming to the little details like three knocks at the church door being related to the occult and three knocks being a mocking of the holy trinity. It was also one of the big reasons for choosing the king.
There’s this whole thing of the king being appointed by god that we learn in English schools as an explanation for why the English Civil War and Oliver Cromwell was so shocking. We decided the costume shouldn’t be lavish or anything close to that as I’m not of the opinion of the divine right to rule and the king’s costume not being very lavish was chosen to reflect that opinion.
It wasn’t just christianity we were taking from. The whole thing with the death character wearing no shoes was really taken from Anubis’ portrayal in American Gods and the reflection of his designs in hieroglyphics. It’s a really good interpretation of how this is just a divine being that is doing a job and how it’s just this natural occurrence that overlaps with the supernatural.
It’s why we took a different approach of death and life hitting a stalemate, they’re supposed to coexist but never really be understood.
Watch Wandering Blind’s ‘Only a Matter of Time above, and listen to more of their moody pop goodness here.
