City By The Sea: Maia Hirasawa "Gothenburg"

Maia Hirasawa "Gothenburg" [if:mv]
dir. by ?
The home movie-style camera work and flooding sunlight evoke a sense of warm nostalgia as Maia Hirasawa and crew wander through the city of Gothenburg. The singer approximates the nervous excitement of returning to a place you once knew - a meeting filled with all the emotion of confronting an ex-lover. Anywhere you live for some time is inevitably linked in your memory to the situations, feelings and people you encountered in that period. A deserted alley may remind you of childhood happiness, but then a bustling marketplace or a beautiful tree bring back long-buried heartbreak.

Yet Hirasawa approaches with new hope - a lover who enjoys R. Kelly and promises to erase all the pain of the past. She wants to hold back her joy, cautious and aware of the potential dangers in "Gothenburg," but occasionally her true emotions break through. In those moments her voice soars above the city and she embraces her happiness without a hint of doubt - in love with life in its entirety.