Since the release of their debut album In the Battles Years in 2016, we’ve written about a lot of Hillsburn music videos. Often directed and produced by former band member and songwriter Paul Aarntzen, they’ve largely focused on one creative element and run with them as far as they could be taken. Their latest video, “Get High,” takes that to an extreme and now, of all the Hillsburn videos we’ve seen, this one might just be our new favourite.
“Get High” got a very literal interpretation. An upbeat song about living in the moment, the value of recognizing what you want from life in a timely manner, and enjoying the company of your friends, they might have filmed this one somewhere on a couch. Instead, singer/bassist Rosanna Burrill and drummer Clare Macdonald got on a plane at The Atlantic School of Skydiving and jumped out of it at 10,000 feet above South Maitland, Nova Scotia.
“When Clare first brought the idea for the video to the band, I thought my response would be a resounding, ‘absolutely not!’ I am pretty afraid of heights and so it was a surprise to everyone, myself included, when I agreed,” says Burrill, who somehow looks to be the more confident of the two at the outset of the video.
“On the day of the shoot, we spent the morning and the whole afternoon waiting for the clouds to part so we could go up and do our jumps. The pre-show jitters of 50 shows combined could not have matched the feelings I was experiencing that day.
“Clare went up first. She landed with this look of pure elation on her face and it gave me a little boost of courage. So up I went in the tiny plane, and out I jumped from the tiny plane. I have never in all my life experienced something more terrifying and exhilarating.”
It’s a bit like if Top Gun was less of a high-speed adventure film and more of a buddy comedy. If this video has taught us anything though, it’s that an airfield can make anyone look epic regardless of the context.
While the lyrics depict a bittersweet reunion, the song is a decidedly upbeat pop number indicative of the shift their new album is taking which the band accredit to their work with Grammy-nominated producer Howard Redekopp (Tegan and Sarah, The New Pornographers, Mother Mother).
So, while the band might be layering in the deeply profound messages that we’re used to hearing from them, we’re able to treat our ears to a good time.
“It’s about lamenting the inability to tell someone how you feel about them when you’re young and unsure of yourself, and how it feels to watch as that person goes on to half-heartedly pursue the usual life and status milestones that are laid out for us,” says guitarist Clayton Burrill.
Slipping Away is available on May 28, 2021 via LHM Records.