WATCH: Jennifer Loveless Music Video For '1.5m'

Jennifer Loveless encapsulates all your lonely iso-feels in her latest music video…

Being one whole day out of Melbourne’s 6-month lockdown, I can’t help but look back at my time spent in lockdown without shuddering at the claustrophobia of it all. Oh, the monotony. Oh, the BOREDOM *sighs*. Like a bad hangover, the people of ‘burn city now begin the gruelling task of repressing memories of those dark months spent indoors, as they look towards summer with a feeling of hope, and starting a new.

Someone who has perfectly encapsulated the reality of what spending all those months in lockdown was like, is Jennifer Loveless. The Canadian born Melbourne based DJ and producer is one of Australia’s most renowned underground creatives. From gigs at Lounge, Boney, and Sub Club to Strawberry Fields, there’s hardly a space within Melbourne’s kaleidoscopic music scene that has not welcomed or worshipped Jennifer Loveless. Releasing her debut EP ‘Hard/Soft’ earlier this year on Andy Garvey’s imprint record label Pure Space, her latest release ‘1.5m’ is a glitched-out tightly curated tip of the hat to life in lockdown.

Inspired by the COVID safe regulation of staying 1.5 metres away from everyone you come across, the 4 and a half minute track is quintessential Jennifer Loveless, featuring punchy analog percussion, ominous ambient pads, and an undeniable 3 am at the club vibe throughout.

‘1.5m captures the stagnancy and immobiliTY of lockdown, with frenzied enjoyment of liberation’. - Jennifer Loveless.

Featuring dull toned greyscale shots of a protagonist stuck inside, staring out the window at an abandoned horizon of empty streets, the music video perfectly encapsulates the isolation of the last 6 months. Interspersed with bursts of young millennials on empty rooftops, dancing energetically to a choreographed dance routine, one can’t help but look at the music video’s protagonist and feel a hot whip of pain at the familiarity of it all. Suppose you replace the used mugs on the video’s kitchen tables with empty packets of ALDI Sea Salt Chips, and the choreographed dancing to Loveless’ own downtempo techno track with learning the ‘WAP’ routine on Tik Tok at 2AM. In that case, I’d dare say Loveless has created the perfect documentary/biopic on the life of every Melbournian in 2020.

Next time your Sydney friends ask you what it was like being in lockdown, just send them this music video - and shed a tear as we wave it goodbye as nothing more than a distant memory.