The 2015 song “Agape”, performed by the British folk rock band Bear’s Den, is a soulful, calming, sad song about not wanting to lose a love that the artist feels like he isn’t himself without. The song implies the use of agapē love in an unconditional sense, asking the person leaving to stay. The artist feels that he is “clutching at straws”, and that he is “so scared of losing” the person leaving. He seems to feel such a deep connection to this person, deep enough that instead of labeling this love with another label, he picks what is known to be the highest form of love.
The music video for this song is beautiful and sweeping, while still being quite minimalist – it shows the members of the band standing in a triangle formation with their backs to each other on a beautiful beach. The camera finds itself focused mainly on the water and the band member’s faces, especially those who are singing, but occasionally, we see full body shots of the band members. In each of these shots, the sand around their feet has risen higher, until we see the three men up to their necks in sand and shallow water. The video seems to end, until, hauntingly, in the next shot, a man walking his two dogs along the beach stops and sees an orange hat that one of the band members was wearing. He picks up the hat and places it on his head, and continues on his walk. To me, these visuals quite directly symbolize not being able to feel like you can live – or even exist – without someone. The band members are very passively sinking into the sand, as one might sink into a numb sort of sadness or depression after being left.
All in all, the minimalism and landscapes used in the video and the echoes used in the music serve the overall song very well – it allows the message to come across in an obvious manner, while still leaving enough discretion for the viewer to interpret the art as they might see fit.
Bear’s Den, director. Agape. Bear’s Den, YouTube, 9 Feb. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1MmYVcDyMs.