Among the things informing the songs of Blackmore’s Night are sagas and symbolism. In the case of the supernatural ‘Will O’ The Wisp’, the rock-based song continues the band’s vision involving what singer and lyricist Candice Night describes as “Nature and folklore from around the world.” ‘Will O’ The Wisp’ is from the group’s tenth album All Our Yesterdays now, and the band has released a new video to accompany it.
Spotlighted in the video and the lyrics are lights (the Will o’ the Wisps), an ancient rock, castle ruins, a forest, as well as the crescent moon. There is also a path. Candice saw that path as part of the Will o’ the Wisp’s folklore as she watched the Disney/Pixar film Brave with her two children. She was entranced by an early scene in which the heroine, Princess Merida is led through the woods to a cottage by a will o’ the wisp, a light that floats over swamps and moors. “The visual was amazing,” she says. Beyond that, the soundtrack of Ritchie’s music spoke to her to blend his music and her lyrics into this enchanting song.
The video is intended to enhance the lyrics’ ancient feel. In stark black and white, the only color element is the title character, a small, light blue will o’ the wisp that leads Night through ruins and moors and wide open spaces. The wisps here are intended as symbolic and mysterious lights that lead through ancient stone circles to a destination that would ultimately change Night’s fate.
With concepts for the video running back and forth for weeks, Blackmore’s Night admit they took “forever” to finish it, and at the end of the entire production, the whole band, pretty much, used symbolism of the path of a light meeting a second light—two Will o’ the Wisps. The singer is adamant about one thing, though. “The concept,” she insists, “is in the lyrics.”
For more on the background of Blackmore’s Night’s new album All our Yesterdays click here, you will also find previous video singles featured at RAMzine.
