Mark Charles Heidinger’s indie-folk project Vandaveer hit its peak when his band was asked to play with Ringo Starr three years ago, and in the interim music has taken the backseat for the songwriter, who’s currently sheltering in place with his family. After a decade together, the band called it quits shortly after Heidinger’s two kids were born, though an invitation to perform at a local show commemorating the life of Tom Petty brought him back to music after the brief hiatus.
Today, he officially returns with his first solo single, “Blood Will Always Be,” which arrives along with a unique take on the increasingly prevalent quarantine video. The baroque and electro-tinged single comes to life with a video of a video—we see Heidinger’s reflection in his phone, which broadcasts snippets of the goings-on of others in his community as he performs.
“In the early days of quarantine it seemed like every band was live streaming from their bedroom,” director Jared Varava shares. “And every music video, it seemed, was some sort of riff on Zoom. We wanted to do something that satirized those tendencies but also elevated the human experience of this moment (without it feeling like a bank ad). This is the result of over fifty participants from all over the world, shot and edited in full quarantine (not to mention a hefty VFX process that required me to shoot back plates that matched every video submission using only the small confines of my own home). If there is one thing we tried to communicate with this project, it’s that hopefully, one day, we can look back on this strange moment with a bittersweet fondness. Until then, stay home. Stay safe.”
Watch the clip below.
