Sweden’s Brother Leo bounces between an exuberant melody and introspective lyricism for his latest single Shine, and the recently released video plays upon both aspects of the track.

Brother Leo, the moniker for Swedish musician, songwriter and producer Ola Svensson treads between joyous sonics and more anxious, downtrodden lyrics in his latest single Shine, yet despite the wearied lyrics you can’t help but feel a blossoming of warmth in your heart as the vibrant chorus kicks in.

The recently released video captures both the light and the dark of the track perfectly, between colourful scenes shot in La Muralla Roja, an eye-catching, postmodern apartment complex on the south coast of Spain, and symbolic allusions to the darkness under the surface.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the video, Brother Leo says:

The idea for this video was to illustrate a colourful trip into the subconsciousness – the feeling of being trapped and lost inside your own self-made prison and longing to find the way out. I was in a pretty dark place when this song came to life. The writing process turned out to be some kind of turning point for me, both personally and creatively. To some this will probably be another happy tune, but for me it means something totally different.

Intrigued by the evidently thoughtful video, we decided to inquire about it further, and talk about the details of it.

How did you find the location for the music video? Did you always have an idea that you wanted to shoot it at La Muralla Roja?

I knew I wanted to find a colorful place of some kind but it was Leopold the director who found this place. It was just perfect.

What do the different colours represent?

Dreams, hope, memories. Beauty you sometimes forget that you have inside and all around you. Sometimes it’s even more frightening to face the ’colors’ than to live the ‘black and white life’ if that make sense.

What’s the significance of the younger boy in the video? And the cast in general?

He represents my younger self, the dreamer, the naive and unspoiled side of me. He’s still there, but the longer we live, the harder it is to keep. The cast represents the voices of doubts, fear that wants to keep you down.

Can you explain the use of the magnifying glass and the foil?

The magnifying glass is a symbol for search. As with the foil, sometimes people wanna label you and tell you their reality of who you are and what you should do and accomplish.

What’s the meaning of the end when you dig up the treasure buried by the younger boy?

As a kid I guess we all tell ourselves what we gonna be and what we gonna do when we grow up. We dream. In a way we bury those dreams and save them for later…

Are there any behind-the-scenes stories of the video that you can share?

It’s pretty funny, we were looking for an 8-10 year old guy to play mini Leo and we searched on so many places, then we found Lui who turned out to be living 5 min walk from La Muralla Roja which was a bit crazy…

I was also hanging in a tree for like 1 hour, I had this idea but sadly we couldn’t use the material due to the light.