Revisiting the title track of his 2018 album Nightcraler, Simon Daniel has released a new music video filled with mystery and occultish capers. Based on the idea that the night carries with it a special type of energy, the video shows us how ordinary people transform in the dark.
“Nightcrawler” was written based on the idea that with the darkness comes the release of all limitations. It is an ode to those who come out of their shell when no one else is looking.
“When I wrote the song, I was thinking about how I was most creative during the nighttime and how I write most of my songs during the night,” says Simon Daniel. “I feel nighttime really affects people’s behavior. There is some sort of visceral change — we let down our guard, our instinct takes over. Under the cover of darkness, we let go of our inhibitions more easily, and that’s freeing.”
“The idea for the video came afterward.”
In those 4 minutes and 46 seconds, we see a group of those who find their escape in the late hours coming together and forming a sort of cult. Having been summoned by a man — Simon Daniel himself — and his flare, the group indulge in the ritualistic consumption of a beverage of questionable properties, which unbridles their senses.
“Me and my friend Emmanuelle Landry, who is a scriptwriter, were trying to find a way to personify the night and how it makes us feel. We wanted to have individual stories of ordinary people that develop as the night advances.”
“The character I play represents the night, who comes and gives them a ‘cue,’ igniting a frenzied ritual — people letting go of their angst.”
Simon and Emannuelle approached the video as if the song were its soundtrack; they incorporated bits of the lyrics into the setting. Where the song mentions “les parking lots vides” and that “street lights flicker,” the video’s climax takes place in an empty parking lot under the glow of street lights.
But the narrative does leave viewers with a few questions unanswered. What ritualistic beverage are they consuming? In what rites are they partaking? How have they all managed to let their inhibitions leave them so completely?
Perhaps these questions are better left to the interpretation of the viewer.
“Nightcrawler” is a call for those who give the night its energy — those who thrive in the quiet, who hurt in silence, who love in the darkness — to come together and put their differences aside. It serves as a reminder for us to forget our preocupations and let our true selves shine.