With the release of their latest single, “Constance”, Canadian heavy music trio Spiritbox pay a tribute to both Courtney LaPlante‘s and video director Dylan Hryciuk’s late grandmothers in a powerful account of loss and mourning.
Together, the track and video transmute a creative muse rooted devastation to genuinely and intimately present Spiritbox‘s lesser-known dimension of sound. Turning in the opposite direction of “Holy Roller”, ethereally dissonant “Constance” finds beauty in catharsis and Courtney‘s voice floats above the song’s gradually fading ambient instrumentation.
Speaking on “Constance”, frontwoman Courtney LaPlante said:
“I came to our director Dylan with a proposition: Let’s create the music video and the lyrical content of the song at the same time. We both felt compelled for the song and story to reflect the sorrow we both feel about our grandmothers passing away recently.
Due to border shut downs, I was not able to say goodbye to my grandmother Phyllis, to whom the song is in tribute, or attend her funeral. I always promised her that I would sing at her memorial service, because she always requested a “pretty song with none of that scary screaming”. I hoped writing this song with no “scary screaming” in it would help me find a sense of closure.
Dylan wrote his video concept to honour his grandmother, Constance to whom the video is in tribute. Our music videos usually have a horror element to them, and we wanted to explore a different side of horror: the horror of feeling like your mind is betraying you, due to a long battle with dementia. With Dylan’s permission, we named the song ‘Constance’ to immortalize her story.”
Stream and watch the music video for “Constance” below.