ABSTRACT
They appear from between a line of pillars. First Howard, elegantly curving his arms over his head. Then Robbie, who brings his hands together in prayer. Jason emerges, bends, and arches his back. Gary just sort of stands. Finally, Mark saws the air with his arms. For most of the video the boys will individually occupy separate spaces, with each lost in his own world. As the image cuts from colour to black and white, Gary – the one who sings – is caught alone on a beach. He sings to the sky, he sings to the sand. His song is addressed a lost loved one. His dark shirt hangs open to reveal his bare torso. He shows how he feels about the one he loves by opening his arms into empty space. Elsewhere on the beach, Mark is found frozen in a pose. His left arm covers his eyes and the right is held out straight behind him. Like Gary, Mark wears his shirt open to show off the chest and stomach. Jason is found at the edge of the shore, hands clasping an unseen object close to his chest. Howard is seen on the shore wrapping an arm around himself. Back to Mark. In slow motion, Mark’s body is captured in an emotive moment, as he tosses his head backwards while bringing his hands together in prayer. Gary strokes his own chest and the inside of a thigh. Mark waves his shirt in the air. Robbie poses, holding a rock above his head. In colour, Howard, dressed in swimming costume, appears kneeling at the foot of a fountain. Mark stretches. Howard prays in the sand. Robbie hides in some vines. Robbie appears shirtless with water pouring over him. Jason still stands on the shore and as the camera pulls away it is clear he has no trousers. In one smooth gesture, Jason pulls his hand away from his chest to reveal a mirror he is holding against the place where we might imagine his heart to be. As sunlight catches the mirror, it glints. Gary sings, his face creasing with the feeling of the experiences he sings about. Intermittently, an unidentified woman, draped in flowing cloth, appears. She is on the shore, in the vines, and by the fountain. Gary rubs his thighs. Robbie wipes thick make-up in lines down from his eyes. This action is reflected in the next shot, as thick lines of dark tears run from the unknown woman’s eyes. Mark tosses sand about. Jason strikes a crucifix pose with the mirror glinting in his right hand. Whatever is going through his mind, he is clearly unconcerned about showing his underwear to the viewer. Oh, and now the woman also holds up a glinting mirror to the viewer. There is more stretching from Howard and Mark, and Robbie hugs the vines. Gary covers his eyes with his hands. Striking a high note, his hands embrace his chest. Before the end, Gary will open his arms up to the sky; Mark will arch his back and offer his torso heavenwards; Jason and the woman will shine their mirrors; Howard will stretch and haul himself along the side of the fountain; and Robbie will get wetter.
