Life Is Like

I don’t listen to a lot of electronic music and haven’t shared much of it here, but last night as I was reading before bed, I received a Messenger message from one of my nephews along with a piece I wanted to share with you.

This nephew has lived away from Winnipeg, Canada (where I live) for most of his life, and we’ve only been together three times in the past 23 years. He sent me a link to a YouTube video by a French electronic music artist called French 79. I then shared with him one I’d posted in the past by M83, another French (initially, but now based in Los Angeles, California, USA) electronic music project’s piece, “Raconte-moi Une Histoire” (“Tell Me a Story”).

I watched “Life Is Like” on my iPhone, so I only captured the full impact of the imagery after studying it again today on my desktop computer. After this, I looked at all the artist/musician’s social streams but found nothing about him, bio-wise.

“Life is like
An angel in the sky
A big merry go round
A river running wild”

“Life Is Like,” by French 79.
Lyrics retrieved from the notes section of the YouTube video post.

The video is cleverly done. It starts with an evening city skyline shot, the camera pulling back steadily. The camera continues this movement, moving through windows in and out of apartments, from building to building. We observe people doing various activities, playing, reading, lounging, and playing musical instruments in these identically-small bedrooms. Then at 1:41, we come in through the window to the what looks like the music studio of French 79, then out a window on the other side. The pullback continues through more buildings and apartments, returning to the musician’s studio and then more apartments, the distance between these decreasing then disappearing so that the film becomes a moving infinity-type image, sort of like what you see when you’re in the middle of a room with a mirror on each end; the musician becomes part of that infinity. Eventually, the space between apartments disappears, and the artist looks out the window and observes himself through his studio window. The film ends with a young person holding a video camera, and as the camera pulls back, we end up in the same young boy’s bedroom we started in (and if I’m not mistaken, a photo of French 79 is on the wall to the right of the window).

I think the song and video make a statement about life: it is constantly moving, and we can either look back to past generations and see where we’ve been or turn around and look to an uncertain future; one that carries our ancestors and experiences along with us. And from that open, forward-oriented viewpoint, we might be rewarded with things of beauty and joy, like angels, merry-go-rounds, and rivers running wild.

I enjoyed the video and the music, and appreciated receiving it as I might never have experienced it otherwise.

French 79 released the single “Life Is Like” last month, with a YouTube video as part of the launch.

Now you know a little about why this is my Song of the Day for Today. Thanks for joining me here. Please enjoy the official video from the French 79 YouTube channel:

With gratitude,

Steve