Sai Selvarajan Crafts Music Video for Bonnie Prince Billy and Matt Sweeny's "Hall of Death"

Feb. 09, 2021

Directed and Edited by Sai Selvarajan & Co-Directed by Jeff Bednarz, the new Bonnie Prince Billy and Matt Sweeney music video “Hall of Death” faces life’s inevitable outcome with a wild exuberance; the frolic and romp of kids who aim to outrun fate, like a massive game of freeze tag where the loser will remain unmoving forever. The “Hall Of Death” video is in advance of the April 2021 album “Superwolves” by the duo of Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney, to be released by Drag City Records.

Sai Selvarajan previously collaborated with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Bill Callahan on two videos (editor on “Blackness of the Night” and director/editor on “Miracles”), which led to this recent collaboration.

The concept for “Hall of Death” was borne out of Selvarajan’s desire to impart a sense of wonder and youthful reckless abandon as a complement to the song’s poetic majesty. He and fellow director Jeff Bednarz took a small but mighty crew to the woods, filming sibling actors, Amalie and Etienne Vargas, as they galavant through the isolated environs. A Niger-based ensemble was filmed by Mikey Colton, with Sweeney and Billy capturing their cameos on their iPhones. Selvarajan then united these elements in the edit to create a story that is both curious and hopeful.