Ogreta (the indie-folk project by Irish artist Penny O'Brien) and director Liz Charky explore the inner conflict of trying to be present while wanting to disappear in the reflective, playful, and humorous music video to ‘Shirts & Hopes.’
“The song is really about the struggle to live up to expectation and anxiety felt in connecting to others,” says O’Brien. “We wanted to tap into the different worlds of internal thought and external faces, but still keep the overall music video tone upbeat. A tone that could offer some sexiness, while holding space for a little weirdness and a wink!”
The internal world is portrayed through a series of intimate performance-based moments (cue scenes of rich greenery and a self burial on the beach). “We worked on a lot of solo scenes to illuminate the internal side of the song and Liz would expertly guide both reflective and humorous takes for most of the shots. Liz is extremely talented, and such a charmer and joy to be around. She was patient and playful with the performance direction but still able to push the shoot along professionally. There are fun, cheeky moments that nod to the person one can present, or mask, as; happy, fun, gregarious… Then there are more personal, candid to-camera moments that push the narrative of loneliness and the difficulty to connect. There is an insomniac and pulsey beat throughout the song, and we wanted to include the whole scope of day to night to hint at that too."
For the more social scenes in the video, the pair wanted more human and synthetic locations. So, in came a kitchen full of dancers and the crest of Echo Park’s infamously steep Baxter Street. The addition of the tunnel location came from conversations with cinematographer, Ellin Aldana. “The tunnel was a great way to marry the two different worlds,” continues O’Brien. “It bridges us from the natural to something more concrete. It was also another place to explore the celebration of solitude (my sweet spot)!"
The art direction, color palettes, and costume add extra flare too. With styling by Ellie O’Hern (Sweaterhex) and Haley Blavka, the outfits pop while still creating a moody atmosphere to underscore the song's more reflective core.
“Right from the start, I could tell how much trust and openness Penny brings to her creative relationships,” ends Charky. “I was blown away by how incredibly caring, generous, and thoughtful she was—she surrounds herself with a beautiful community of people who mutually support each other, which made the project even more special and generative than I ever could have imagined. Our shared weird sense of humor and playfulness created an atmosphere on set that was joyful and full of ease. I love how far we took the vision!”
LA residents can catch Ogreta on her upcoming Dec 14th show at The Silverlake Lounge. Follow @_ogreta for updates.
