Owen Pallett - “In Conflict” (Official Video)

“You are the total expression of what I have loved or still love in fragments.” Owen Pallet’s video for “In Conflict” opens with a quote, taken from Ned Rorem’s The Paris Diary, written by his admirer Marie-Laure de Noailles to describe her deep affection for the composer. The video proceeds to show us some of these fragments, moments in which we are nakedly vulnerable or desired. Shot mostly on the Long Island shoreline, the video pairs Pallett’s operatic stylings with equally dramatic shots of distant, longing glances of people attempting to forge a connection. It’s a stylish and slick video directed with a mounting sense of urgency by Jason Last and Jamie Rubiano. You can watch below, and read some words from Pallett about the track itself.

Pallett on the meaning of the song (via The Nowness):

The song is about men; the ghost of my father whispering to me about human desire, and it’s about this moment in your life when you start to recognize that your body is a series of apparatus and you start to covet the bodies of people younger than you. I don’t identify as male, I identify as gender-queer, but I am very sympathetic whenever I see men throwing aside everything they have for the love of somebody new. It’s been the subject of so much poetry.