After watching GEM CLUB‘s brand new music video for “Polly” I was left with so many wonderful unknowns I had to watch it twice. By the end of the second viewing I had a few more possible explanations running through my head for what I had just seen. Directed by Matthew Salton and Charlie Engman, “Polly” tracks an older woman living a sheltered life as she explores her own personal glamour in the most private of ways — behind the safety of a closed door, all while under the watchful eye of her video camera.
Is Polly too shy to express her inner-glitter girl to the people of her small town, yet has no issues unveiling her alter-ego via video to the entire world? And a clever use of sequins and glitter lends itself to the possibility that the younger black woman in the video is possibly a glimpse of Polly’s imagined ideal self. In the end,”Polly” is a brilliant gem of surreal mystery, and a heartbreaking — and at times uncomfortable — look at the harsh reality of growing old in a youth-obsessed world.
You absolutely need to pick up GEM CLUB’s brand new album In Roses via their home label Hardly Art or iTunes, as well as their first full length album Breakers on iTunes as well. Be sure to follow GEM CLUB on Facebook, check out their tour dates HERE, and enter their world at IAMGEMCLUB.com.
Director Matthew Salton, Director of Photography Mike Prevette, and Art Director Charlie Engman also created GEM CLUB’s video for “252” which won a Boston Music Award for Music Video of the Year in December 2012 (you can watch it below as well). I first discovered GEM CLUB last week when I came across their stunning track “Hypericum” which you can also stream below.
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