Prism Prize Eligible Video: The Elwins - Hung Up

By Kerry Doole

The 2021 Prism Prize for Best Canadian Music Video was recently awarded to Theo Kapodistrias, for his clip for Haviah Mighty’s Thirteen. We will continue to profile noteworthy Canadian videos that were eligible for the prize, including this one from a popular indie rock band.

The Elwins - Hung Up

You know them, you love them! The Elwins are a Canadian indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario. The group consists of singer and guitarist Matthew Sweeney, drummer Travis Stokl, guitarist/keyboardist Feurd, and bassist/singer Frankie Figliomeni; with over 15 years of experience in the music industry and working together, touring, and creating magic.

Their most recent single, Hung Up is about the hopeless feeling when you start to develop feelings for someone, but it doesn’t work out. The band says, “It’s specifically those kinds of irrational thoughts like 'will I ever come down?' that I feel stem from low self-esteem or not being confident in your own ability to move on.”

The video, directed by the band’s long-time friend and creative director Wyatt Clough, follows a somewhat different story. Starting off the video, we see Wyatt talking to his camera in a car, where he says that The Elwins have asked to meet him in an undisclosed location, somewhere in the woods. As he is driving the video becomes somewhat Blair Witch-y. When he finally reaches his destination, he can’t seem to find the band anywhere. Until…. BAM, out jumps a member of the band (and honestly, I jumped). Once you come down from that, the rest of the video is exploring a cult-like group in the forest, hunting for crystals and dancing around in the dark in spooky light. 

The idea stems from a conversation The Elwins had with Clough. “We were chatting with our friend/collaborator Wyatt nd he mentioned he had been researching certain cult practices and we thought that would work really well for this song, being ‘hung up’ in something that may not be good for you”. 

Don’t get hung up on your crystals, watch the video!

Director - Wyatt Clough

Producer - Brad Garcia