2022 Prism Prize Eligible Video: Calvin Love - Sleight of Hand 

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The 2021 Prism Prize for Best Canadian Music Video was awarded to Theo Kapodistrias, for his clip for Haviah Mighty’s Thirteen. We will continue to profile noteworthy Canadian videos that are eligible for the 2022 prize, including this one from an Albertan indie rocker.

Calvin Love - Sleight of Hand 

Calvin Love is an Edmonton native who loves rock and roll. Said to have been born with a “rebel heart”, the rocker creates music with influences from the pop and dance music of the 50s and 60s paired with punk/electronic/new wave stylings of the 70s and 80s. His lyrics revolve around the heartaches of love and death. 

Love's Sleight of Hand drew inspiration from a unique place, as he explains. “I spent time at a cabin in the Rockies mountains last year and while I was there I found old newspapers/magazines from the 70s/80s, I flipped through the headlines and read stories of corporate take over, climate change, wealth inequality, deforestation, police brutality and neoliberalism disguised by glossy consumer ads. Shiny new but rotten underneath”. 

The animated video accompanying the track embodies the sentiment behind the song. With sweeping visuals of hypnotized crowds and seedy small towns. The grey overcast and moody character expressions forecast a world under control, feeding off their screens and not being able to occupy normalcy. Calvin Love has left us with something to think about. 

Directed & Animated by: Jordan “Dr. Cool” Minkoff