Encircling surroundings of rich red and smoky mahogany, ‘Body Suit’ is the latest music video from Melbourne’s Banoffee. Lifted from her highly anticipated EP Do I Make You Nervous?, ‘Body Suit’ embodies an entirely new atmosphere for Martha Brown as she is physically entangled and distanced from an eclectic collection of strangers. Presented and obscured through the passing of interpretation, Brown is centred amongst a kind of bubbling chaos that cuts each frame as splitting surface tension, reaching out in jarring movement and echoed as no more than a body. Like an alien figure, the video dabbles on the textured concept of a ‘Body Suit’, warping her figural movements and brushing over her female presence as a bare representation of nothing more, nothing less.
Written by Rhys Mitchell and Banoffee, directed by Rhys Mitchell, produced by Ruth Morris, and with cinematography by Jack Peddey, ‘Body Suit’ has a gritty glamour that speaks on a collaborative level. Dividing scrutiny and satisfaction, each cut drips alongside each synth and beat to deliver an undeniable theme of perception; every cut equating to another tone in both sound and context. Cloaked in a thin skin of paint created by Melbourne artist Lani Mitchell, the message of ‘Body Suit’ subtly becomes crystal as Banoffee noted;
“We wanted to create a story about the subjective nature of performance. Not to specifically point at any industry but to show the fragility of one person when put before many. The delicacy and vulnerability that comes with the give and take of human nature and the way we interact. The painted bodysuit acts as a second skin at once bold and concurrently vulnerable. The bodysuit serves to explore the outer layer, the persona, one must assume to become the performer. Still, the scrutiny remains, and in this arena it is to be expected.”
Once again, I’m left to nod on how far Banoffee has come in the Melbourne music scene and beyond as she continues to solidify her presence. Repeatedly empowering and possessive, her vocal and instrumental warmth will leave you feeling compacted against the ferocious undertones of her lyrics. After watching ‘Body Suit’, there’s only one question to ask, “what is this hush-hush manner that makes Brown so contagious?” The beauty is in that mystery.
