Creative agency Truant London has teamed up with independent record label Don’t Sleep to create a music video for emerging UK talent carina. Produced, directed and edited by Truant’s in-house production team, the move sees the agency further bolster its credentials in the music space having previously collaborated with D Double E, Grace Carter and Tokio Myers.
“A young singer-songwriter taking the indie scene by storm” - Notion
On ‘ur soft eyes’ and ‘accessory,’ a pensive carina pens a self-reflective lullaby, and on the set of her music video everyone’s invited to her technicolour picnic. Nestled between a colourful spread of flowers and pastel pastries, a contemplative carina ruminates on her object of affection.
Don’t Sleep's signee is a force resting somewhere in between the DIY indie and R&B community, and the video moves from an intimate hazy daydream into a disorienting and nightmarish shriek of catharsis as we’re taken deep into the mind of carina.
Truant’s in-house directorial duo Tom + Kostie deliver on the artists creative vision, creating a twisted love story, exploring themes of social separation and the romantic struggles of living with dissociation, all set in the spaced-out mind of carina. Her melancholy is magnetic - an effervescent and entirely relatable place of vulnerability. She understands our angst, our heartbreak, and a persistent feeling of longing inherent to us all.
Truant’s directors Tom + Kostie spoke about their experience filming, saying, “It’s not every day a music video brief lands on your desk. In fact, it’s never. That’s what I love about Truant. At the end of the day, we’re all here to make unignorable work. Whether that’s advertising, PR stunts, or in this case, a music video for an emerging artist. As up-and-coming filmmakers, directing it was a no-brainer. There’s no greater privilege than being able to bring your own storyboards to life. Lucky for us, Don’t Sleep were some of the greatest collaborators we’ve worked with. Trusting, tight-knit and restlessly ambitious. Here’s to the next one.”
Don’t Sleep Records commented on the collaboration, "Partnering with Truant on this video has been an absolute pleasure, they understood the project immediately and brought a unique set of skills to it. We really wanted to capture carina’s world visually, showing two sides of her character and sound, while finding a thread through her experience to link both worlds together and we feel this was executed and represented beautifully. We're excited for the world to see it and embrace it.”
Carina adds, “I wanted to capture the essence of the songs, feeling infatuated but zoned out at the same time. I wanted to include my band so I was happy about that too. The ending is my favourite. I love the contrast of the whole thing.