1 of 2 2 of 2 Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter . Call it a great exercise in the power of restraint.
The setting for Beau Wheeler’s video for “Queen” is about as simple as it gets. We get the Vancouver-based singer solo in a room, the backdrop starting out Arizona-sunset red, with the colour palette shifting, over the next three minutes, from pastel purples to November-skies greys to regal golden browns. Through it all, Wheeler is always front and centre, sporting cool-as-Roy Orbison shades and taking their cues from the great Man in Black on the fashion front, right down to the shoes.
The FX is both analogue and minimal—a fired-up fog machine, well-placed back light, and a vintage-looking mic is all that’s needed to further set the mood. Bonus points for Wheeler wiedling a classic robin’s-egg blue Gretsch as their main instrument of choice. “Queen” is one of those songs that defies easy desciption, with touchstones including, but not limited to, dark-noir-pop, downbeat soul, and even trace amounts of downbeat Americana.
And while Wheeler has built their reputation as a powehouse vocalist, here the vibe is, coming back where we started, an exercise in the power of restraint. A sign of things to come, or a beautiful diversion from what their fans usally expect? That remains to be seen, and really, it doesn’t matter. What does is that change is almost always good.
Beau Wheeler plays a “Queen” video release party tonight at Green Auto. Video of Queen - Beau Wheeler.
