Keeper E.’s new video for her standalone single, “Fourteen,” is a reminder that youth is wasted on the youth, that all things come to an end, and the people we were a decade ago aren’t the people we are now. It’s an atmospheric synth-driven track about the failings of our limited forms that invariably march along with time to their bitter end. And yet, somehow, we still mark every birthday with a celebration.
‘Fourteen”—self-directed, and shot and edited by Paul Aarntzen (formerly of Hillsburn)—looks a bit like The Virgin Suicides on steroids. All the pieces of a party are there, but something feels very off. The celebrations seem grim, the wash of pastel pinks distorted into a harsh neon. It seems a metaphor for the traditions of a familiar celebration that gets a little more macabre with every milestone marked.
Keeper E.’s “Fourteen” however, contains the hope that there’s something beyond all that.
“It is especially disheartening to discover the activities you used to do are no longer available to you because of your body’s new limitations. It feels unfair that the homes we have to live in for our entire lives seem to deteriorate constantly after we are born,” says Keeper E., aka Adelle Elwood.
“The one consolation is that perhaps our failing bodies can remind us of our impermanence on earth. It can connect us to the generations who have lived before us, and it can help to put our lives in perspective. As our bodies break, it reminds us that we are not just physical beings, and reconnects us with the emotional, spiritual, and mental aspects of our lives. Our presence on earth is much more than just our bodies, and our skin isn’t the only thing holding us together. We are all connected to each other and to the earth.”
The flip side of this is that after so many birthday parties, they eventually lose their appeal. To an extent, we outgrow them, they become childish, unbecoming of someone of a certain age, and even farcical. Similarly, these bodies grow dated and our interest wanes. We just have to hope that whatever comes next is better than cake and piñatas.
Tour Dates:
10.14.21 – Halifax, NS @ The Carleton
10.16.21 – East Margaretsville, NS @ Evergreen Theatre
11.06.21 – Truro, NS @ Belly Up BBQ & Grill (NSMW)