U.S. Girls have returned with a new single called “Bless This Mess”, accompanied by a warming VHS video of creative mastermind Meg Remy in her youth.
“Bless This Mess” finds Remy going full diva over luxuriously traipsing piano and synth with flecks of mandolin. She summons the breadth of her grace to show some love for those people who go about their day in service of their families for little or no reward. “It’s your job to carry water in a broken jar all day / You’ve been suffering so long now / Nobody knows your name,” she sings – but Remy sees them, she acknowledges them and shows them love. What’s more, she’s been to see God who also pays them tribute, saying “I bless this mess / I see you’re doing your best”. In this floating and bright musical surrounding, you can perfectly imagine Remy sidling up to God and looking down on Earth, smiling at all those unappreciated people, and showing them some much needed love.
The video for “Bless This Mess” is also sweet, having been compiled from old home videos. Remy explains:
“Before camera phones, the family camcorder was often the mirror tool used to capture selfie-like performances of teenage daydreams and insecurities. Recently I unearthed a VHS tape housing footage of my 1998 self singing on top of my favourite songs of the day, along with my 2000 self publicly performing music for the first time, plus various other blush-worthy self-portraits. I decided to air out this acutely personal footage. My meta music video vision: 1998 self singing a song that 2020 self wrote.”
Evan Gordon has gone to great lengths to make it appear that Remy is singing the song, read more about his process below the video.
On the creation of the clip, Evan Gordon says: “I buckled down and painstakingly dragged the eight-minute clip over each word of the song, forwards and then backwards, splitting off any partial or direct match. Beyond my expectations, I was able to find multiple matches for each phrase. From here, I worked on stitching the clips together to make complete phrases, selecting from my list of matches much like making a comp of vocal takes.
“This video is a realfake. It’s naturally authentic while being transparently fake. Its intent is not to deceive or convince, but rather to induce reflection and remembrance.”
You can also find “Bless This Mess” on streaming platforms.
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