What was the process of translating this near-death experience into something as expansive as “Golden Hour” like?

This song really fell out of us. Some songs go through many iterations, since our sound is always evolving with us, but this one was formative, so I think the bones of it really stuck. TW: If you’ve been in a car accident, there’s a real element of time slowing down upon impact. In my case, we flipped all the way over and I literally had enough time in those moments to reflect on some of the most beautiful moments of my life. It felt like I’d be stuck in that space forever, until that blood-pumping rush of adrenaline when you realize you’re alive at the end of it. I feel like we really captured that in the bridge and the end of “Golden Hour” with all the distorted vocals, and then hitting overdrive in the final chorus.

Was Iceland a setting that you envisioned from the start? How did the environment help elevate the feeling of the song?

For this one we wanted a liminal space where we could suspend reality to complement the element of time slowing down from the car accident. I had this idea of being in a house where things are familiar, and then increasingly taking those elements away as reality falls apart. Iceland was expansive and unbelievable as it is, so it felt like the perfect backdrop. We knew this was the song for that setting from the start for sure. 

There’s a balance between fragility and celebration in the video. Why did you decide to close with the “ice cave rave,” following such heavy themes?

In the moments immediately after an accident, when everything comes rushing back, your heart is racing a million miles per hour; adrenaline full throttle. That really informed the vibe for the end of the song for us and it had to match visually, but we also wanted to leave it open ended for the viewer. When I was in the car, I didn’t know if I was going to live or die. In a way, if you died, an ice cave rave is the perfect heaven, a celebration of life – and if you lived,  it’s heaven on earth. I can’t even tell you how cool it was to see that come together. 

The video features fragmented parts of a house scattered across Iceland, which feels very symbolic. How do you see those broken pieces reflecting your own personal journey?

I think for me, in the accident, my brain was grasping for memories that were recognizable and comforting; safe, warm, simple things I wanted to remember – like a bedroom or a living room, where you’re so comforted, human, skin on skin, the best parts of being alive. But as time slowly moves forward, you realize you’re not where you thought you were, and that warm bed you were wrapped up in is actually in the middle of nothingness because you’re living in a memory. My brain was trying to hold space for both the reality I was in, flipping upside down, and this highlight reel of things flashing before my eyes. Putting parts of a house in this vast, liminal space achieved that vision of juxtaposed comfort and discomfort, especially with the increasingly violent atmosphere around the house elements.

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After the accident, did you feel like your approach to time, memory, or even creativity shifted? Has the way you make music changed since that moment? 

Yes! I had some pretty intense brain damage post-accident, which I’ve since recovered from, but it shifted my perspective forever. It became easier to not sweat the small stuff, and time became more precious for sure. I’ve always had a difficult relationship with time, but that experience helped me learn that time can flex depending on your relationship to it.

You filmed the video in some pretty extreme conditions. How did those challenges affect the way you worked or your perspective on the project? Was there a moment when you felt that you were really pushing your own limits? 

It was a wild week and a half; we’ve never experienced anything like that. We had days where we would drive 12 straight hours to get the shots, and lining everything up in the right order for light and weather was a huge challenge – not to mention a five person crew in Iceland (3 band members, management, and Lindsey, our DOP) was wild. Marc Koecher (from the band) piloted the drone in the fjord for the first chorus shot, and we almost didn’t get what we needed because of the wind! Most importantly the Into The Glacier team was AMAZING and brought us in their armoured missile launcher up a glacier into their ice cave (a 10 hour round trip from where we were staying) to help us get those shots. Ultimately we were blown away with how well it turned out in light of what we were up against in Iceland.

Was there ever a moment where you questioned your decision to self direct? Or did it feel like the right way to express such a personal song?

No, our last EP has a song on it called “Bossy” that gives a little insight into my workflow, haha. But for real, as FEATURETTE, visuals are kind of our thing! When we have an idea, we drive it forward until we get the product. We back ourselves so that we can own our successes and our failures. This one most definitely being a success story and something we’re immensely proud of.

The final scene in the ice cave feels like the ultimate expression of “for now we’re gold.” How do you want people to feel when they see that scene? What was the energy you were trying to capture?

It isn’t up to me how they should feel, but I’ll give you a bit of personal context to put how I feel about it into perspective. The car I was in the day of the accident was being driven by my grandmother, who had dementia. We didn’t know it at the time. She survived the accident, we were T-boned on my side and I took most of the damage. Currently, she’s no longer with us, but the song really has so much of her in it. Her own journey at the end of her life took her back to her youth, and the memories that stuck with her really were only the good ones. She was fortunate to go gently into her state and stopped dwelling on all the hurt she’d encountered in this world. I’ll never forget what I learned from that. As someone privileged enough to make music for a living, and seeing the way people celebrate life when we’re all together at a show, I can think of no better way to express gratitude for the fans of the project and life we have in this fleeting moment than Ice. Cave. Rave.