small screen

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Blair was sitting in Matty's lap as they cuddled on the sofa. She expected him to have some smarty thing to say before pressing play, but he didn't say anything. He just placed his phone in her hands and tossed his pizza crust back into the unfolded box on the coffee table.

She watched as the film clips of the white wall meshed into the more modern digital when the band stood in front of the title text. The music was dreamy and lilting with a single, soft voice lifting above it all.  The shot changed from film to digital to get the whole band lined up in the shot.

"When did you film this? Your hair looks different." She giggled as she listened to the plucked guitar notes.

"Oh, quite a while ago. Probably before you were back. I put The Birthday Party out before Too Shy for obvious reasons." She looked at him and smiled. "Watch, I'm about to sing."

She looked at his swishing hips and the scrunched face he made during the chorus. He looked like he was having fun and truly losing himself in the instruments.

"You're absolutely bodying this," Blair said. The video had not plot, just the band jamming out to their song, which left like the first song you would think of when thinking of The 1975. It was the group's magnum opus.

"I know," Matty quipped. "Shh, I love this solo."

On cue, the magnificently placed saxophone chimed in. The bridge was a legendary ballad playing through the sax, instead of through Matty's heavenly vocals. After she has fought the urge to dance for a few moments, the band went back to the chorus, where Matty continued doing a rockstar-type face—it looked like he was growling at nothing. The film camera was back again every now and then. It cut in to splice the illusion, untethering it from previous videos they had produced.

"It reminds me a bit of Girls. Just the video, I mean. The song feels like something completely new." She returned his phone once the video was done. "But also, sort of familiar? Somehow."

He held her tightly in his arms, and she sunk deeper into his chest. "Yes, I get it."


ephemeral // matty healyWhere stories live. Discover now