The music of Halifax-based singer and songwriter Jont has always typically come with a nurturing aspect to it. His latest album, Thank You for the Medicine, spells it out for us right in the title. These songs are designed to uplift and heal, either through a positive message or simply advocating for both the long and short-term benefits of dancing away your worries.
Jont’s latest video, “Step Into the Fear,” featuring dancer-choreographer Natalie Morin, is a rally cry to “step into your power.” Amidst the playfulness of Morin’s dancing, however, there’s a sense of sorrow giving the song a greater gravitas.
In the words of Canadian songwriting legend, Bruce Cockburn, “got to kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight.” The phrase immediately comes to mind when watching Morin forcefully emerge from the cocoon of her bedding to engage in a dance party of one.
“Rather like a character from a weird dream, Natalie struggles to move around the cluttered confines of her interior space attached to what is it? A screen? A bed? Until finally, having waited long enough, like the butterfly that must emerge eventually, she is propelled by an inner force down the stairs and out into the street of action, movement – where she can flow, surrendered to the natural joy that is her birthright,” says Jont.
“All the elements of great clowning combine with understated precision and a charming lack of ostentation and an abundance of child-like wonder to create a timeless space for this euphoric song to live in.”
It’s not necessarily a pretty picture – something akin to Maud Lewis emerging from a bad trip into David Bowie’s final Black Star incarnation – but if you’ve ever seen the process that a caterpillar endures while undergoing its transformation you know the comparison is a favourable one.
Both song and video turned out to be collaborative projects for Jont, first working with his close friend Adrienne to write the song, and then leaving the video in the hands of Moncton, New Brunswick-based filmmaker and musician Jeep Jones (who had worked on Jont’s previous videos “I Think It Could Be Possible” and “Thank You For My Happiness”) as well as dancer Natalie Morin.
“Adrienne was having a challenging time at work and I suggested we write something that she could have as a sort of anthem to help her through,” explains Jont,
Jont explains that managed to take some select keywords and quickly address them at the piano, “Within minutes we had the pre-chorus. ‘Open up your wings your time has to come to show them you’re not afraid to make your way,” but finished off the chorus in a service station parking lot, singing into a voice recorder.
“When it came to the video I knew I wanted to do something special. Having worked with Jeep Jones on two of last year’s videos, it seemed a good idea to try another one with him and this time I really wanted him to let rip and do whatever he wanted to do. As is the way with Jeep, he had strong instincts from the get-go and immediately suggested we involved his sister, Natalie Morin, a dancer of some considerable note who lives up the road from his place in Moncton,” says Jont.
“Watching it back again now I couldn’t be happier that the song has this amazing choreographed video to go with it, bringing out the more subtle hues of its meaning. Many thanks go to Jeep and his partner Peggy who helped with the editing and of course to Natalie Morin for her stellar performance and choreography.”
The result is unorthodox but full of a sense of liberation in the face of adversity. Just another little something Jont keeps in his medicine bag, really.