Vide Noir

***This page contains spoilers for the newly-released Vide Noir film. It is highly recommended to watch the movie before reading.***

## Vide Noir

### Producer

Ben Schneider

***Vide Noir*** is Lord Huron's third album. There is also an in-universe drug and a film by the same name. Character details for each song were not released, so most are open to interpretation, though the film gives context to certain songs pertaining to their subjects.

Ben Schneider has explained that the inspiration for many songs on the album was driving around Los Angeles at night: "I started imagining *Vide Noir* as an epic odyssey through the city, across dimensions, and out into the cosmos. A journey along the spectrum of human experience. A search for meaning amidst the cold indifference of the universe." He further elaborated on the story of the album: "It starts with a guy who comes from somewhere else and arrives at the city looking for somebody and at the end of the record, he finds them and there’s some fallout."  On *Strange Trails*, *Vide Noir*, and *Long Lost* there are some characters who are present for more than one album.

## Artwork

There are three versions of the Vide Noir album artwork. The regular physical versions show an image of The Emerald Star on a black background, with text for the artist and album names. The limited vinyl displays The Emerald Star in green foil on a matte black background, without any text. The digital edition more closely resembles the latter.

## Celestial Poem

"Celestial Poem", also known as "Pure Black Void," references each song of the album, and is included in Products of the Universe. It was also offered as an exclusive stream as promotion for the Vide Noir wine in partnership with Echo Echo Wine. It features Ben Schneider reciting the poem atop atmospheric, ambient instrumentals, recalling the intro of "Lost in Time and Space," as well as the transition between the two parts of "Ancient Names."

"I step back from the edge of a pure black void,
Muttering ancient names in forgotten tongues.
Staring up in the jewelled sky,
Torn asunder by a moonbeam's silver slipper,
I bare my bones beneath the Balancer's Eye,
And cry never ever out into the chasmal cosmos.
The universe yawns and lands its long-armed blows.
By force of thunder, I'm thrust through the firmament,
Slingshot somewhere out past the astral plane.
Lost in time, lost in space.
I scan the spinning sky and anon I spy an emerald star; this I follow.
Across eons, beneath black oceans, past places where darkness cools and pools when the night is over,
I followed the emerald star and by and by I return, diminished and daunted.
The flowers grow and wilt and die, while I wait beside the river, with the secret of life in hand,
Staring into the pure black void."
## "Lost in Time and Space"

"Lost in Time and Space" describes the experiences of someone drifting in a "far off place." It seems to follow Buck Vernon's thoughts in the film *Vide Noir* as he sets out from Detroit to Los Angeles to look for his missing fiancée, Lee Green. These song details match the plot description in the film press release. Vernon finds himself "lost in a galaxy of cocktail bars," as this is his only plan to find her. He bemoans the fact she has not called like he expected, complaining that "she went west to chase her dreams" and "she took my money, but she didn’t take me." He seems metaphorically and physically lost, singing "I don’t know who I am, I don’t know where I am." He is desperate not to lose his fiancée and says "If I don’t find her, gonna tie that noose." He quit his job and left in a hurry in order to find her, and drives recklessly with no headlights along the way. His journey on the road seems to partially be depicted in the video for "[[The Night We Met]]," however the love interest is referred to as "Louisa."

While uncredited, an instrumental version of "Lost in Time and Space" is used in the *Vide Noir* film.

## "Never Ever"

A snippet of "Never Ever" was promoted on the Vide Noir hotline. The song seems to follow the same narrative as "Lost in Time and Space." Vernon is trying to picture a woman, likely Green, who was "gone without a warning, long before the sunrise" and who was a possible hallucination: "you're a conjured lie, a figment of my mind." He says he will "will paint her perfect face" and "draw her eyes with the pigment of [his] mind." This is a reference to Mind Pigment in Products of the Universe, which promises to help the user "relive the good old days and rekindle a long lost love". He is completely lost without the woman he loves: "All my days are filled with mourning. All my nights are empty." He is resolute that he "will never ever love again as much as [he] loved her," and that he will "wait until the end" because he believes that he may see her again.

"Never Ever" is not used in the film, however it does fit Vernon's state of mind during his search for Green.

## "Ancient Names (Part I)"

In "Ancient Names (Part I)," Vernon describes his visit to a fortune teller. She gazes into a crystal ball and tells him he's "alive for now but good as dead." Vernon expresses that he has to get away from here and from "her," perhaps feeling that his life is in danger. He was told "a falling star will be thy bane," a possible reference to The Emerald Star.

"Far out past the astral plane, I cast you back from whence you came" references other lore that suggests if an individual travels back from the edge, an entity comes with them. This is also referenced in "Secret of Life." There is a ritual purported to alleviate this in Moonbeam's Realm in the Vide Noir hotline. "Cosmic ash and blackened brain, I call you by your ancient name" references Cosmic Ash from Products of the Universe, which is said to bring back people who have been black brained - overdosed on Vide Noir.

The song opens with a melody on a Mellotron, which represents a specific place, Ben Schneider explains:

"I had this fleshed out, this idea of a song that takes you through a few different dimensions on its journey.  It starts one place and then pretty quickly you are kinda slingshot into another place, and another after that. [...] I kind of wanted to take you through these different places, and that was the first place which I kind of imagined as the entryway to a fortune teller’s parlor. Some, you know, gauzy drapes and twinkling lights and a neon sign."
When the tone of the song shifts:

"So this I imagined as, maybe right next to the fortune teller’s parlor or maybe in another part of town, there’s this band. It’s the end of the night, and they are trying something new. They’re opening up some new kinds of music and maybe tapping into something else dark and interdimensional at the same time."
"Ancient Names (Part I) was not used in the film, however it did serve as the dramatic music for the film's official trailer. Due to the song's two-part nature, it seems logical to extrapolate that it is performed by the Phantom Riders despite narrating Vernon's journey.

## "Ancient Names (Part II)"

"Ancient Names (Part II)" is a nihilistic song performed in the film by the Phantom Riders at the World Enders' warehouse district clubhouse. The "days of laughter and love" are over and it encourages the listener to "spend all their dough." The narrator explains: "I scream and shout like this, just to prove to the world that I still exist," suggesting that screaming into the void is the only thing that makes them feel real. They do not believe in life and will not believe in death until they die. This song seems to be full of despair and anger." While it is clearly performed by other characters in the film, it conveys Buck Vernon's desperation and hopelessness.

## "Wait by the River"

In "Wait by the River" the narrator sings of waiting by a river outside a city for someone he had planned to meet there. He had an argument with the person he is waiting for and now regrets it: "Baby, I didn't mean the things I said, I don't honestly wish you were dead. I'm a fool; I'm just a man. If I only could hold you again." He is determined to change things, and will give up on life if he can no longer be with the one he is waiting for. In the end he seems to make a decision to take Vide Noir, perhaps in an effort to join her wherever she has gone, proclaiming "if we can't be together, I will leave this world behind" and asking "if I can't touch your body, can I touch the sky?"

In all likelihood this song is about Buck Vernon waiting for Lee Green, but it is not clarified by the film.

## "Secret of Life"

"Secret of Life" starts with the narrator trying to remember the words someone else spoke to summon the Ender, binding his life to an ancient master. He recalls how they "crossed a line at the edge of the void, and [they] can't crawl back without making a choice." Unfortunately, "something escaped when [they] opened the gate, and they "cheated death and sealed [their] fate." He seems haunted by this knowledge, asking "how am I supposed to sleep through the night?", knowing that this other person is “never gonna die." He wonders "Will the curse be reversed if I say it backwards?" In the rituals in Moonbeam's Realm on the Vide Noir hotline, a curse that binds the subject to the World Ender can be reversed by a ritual that involves speaking "an ancient name in reverse," which turns the curse back on whoever cast it. It seems the narrator longs to be freed from their chains, surmising that "to die for good, it must be earned" and that "the ways of death, they can never be learned." They state they learned that lesson "lives ago," implying they have been living for a very long time, though ultimately "the darkness comes for all of us."

This song is neither mentioned nor explained in the film, however its meaning could apply to the secrets learned by Z'Oiseau and Frankie Lou.

## "Back from the Edge"

"Back from the Edge" describes the experience of someone who was black brained and came back "from the edge: where you go when you die." They claim they "fell back down to Earth through a hole in the sky," crashing into the sea yet somehow surviving, but they seem to be uncertain about their experiences. The narrator does not make it clear if they overdosed accidentally or if someone forced them. They also state how they were "nearly destroyed when [they] looked in her eyes," getting lost in the void as they pondered the sight. "Her" identity is unknown.

Both Johnnie Redmayne and Buck Vernon experience being black-brained in the Vide Noir film, so it is possible this song is from one or both of their perspectives, but this is not yet known. It is also possible, although perhaps less likely, that the first verse is from Lee Green's perspective, and the second from Vernon's.

## "The Balancer's Eye"

"The Balancer's Eye" documents the woes of a man who feels that his prayers are not heard by heaven, and that he will not be let in. He proclaims "everyone's a sinner in the Balancer's Eye." The singer believes that he was born under a "very bad sign" and "can’t lift an old curse." He wonders if he will ever be forgiven for the crime of his life, which could be an actual crime he committed or perhaps his "crime" of being born under a bad sign or even being resurrected. He asks "If I follow the starlight and call your name, will I see you again on the astral plane?"

The singer also explains that "Life is equal to dust in the Balancer’s Eye" which likely relates to the phrase "the universe is indifferent to your suffering" which is found in the Vide Noir hotline.

The song ends with a woman's voice saying "Follow the Emerald Star!"

When questioned "who is the Balancer's Eye?" in a Q&A with the LHFC, Ben Schneider answered: "The question is not who, but what. I think of it as a universal reckoner." In a different interview, he explains that it is a myth they created themselves .

This song is also not explained or referenced in the film, so it is unclear what its meaning is in the overall narrative.

## "When the Night is Over"

"When the Night is Over" paints a vivid picture of rainy film noir streetscapes, where the singer searches everywhere for their lover obsessively, and hallucinates visions of them wherever they go. They despair of their quest, finding the trail has gone cold and they don't know where else to go. They also question their sense of reality, asking "am I lost inside my mind?" and then spotting "an emerald in the sky." Despite their doubt of reality, they are adamant that the love they shared was real, swearing it on the stars above. Time seems to be running short, as what they are seeking will disappear when the night is over. It is unclear whether this is referring to the literal disappearance of the star they are following in the sky or if the narrator is speaking figuratively of their lover. It may be that in an attempt to aid their search they have taken the Vide Noir drug, and its effects will wear off soon.

Buck Vernon is noted to suffer from hallucinations, and is searching for Lee Green in the *Vide Noir* film, so this song is most likely from his perspective, although it was also omitted from the soundtrack. This song mentions the recurring motif of a river once again, further linking the narrative to Vernon.

This song is not mentioned in the film, but it likely describes Vernon's inner dialogue as he searches the streets of Los Angeles for Green.

## "Moonbeam"

In "Moonbeam," the narrator explains "I had a dream that you came to me shining down through the clouds like a moonbeam" and seems to be describing an uplifting dream of a woman who pulls them "from a nightmare." The singer is joyful, saying "I know I wanna love you" despite their love interest feigning surprise at their affection. They state "you saved me from a bad dream, I was drifting through time and space," asking her to take them out of this dark place. The narrator says "The world is dark the night is long, I could use a few laughs and a couple of songs" and expresses their skepticism that the woman who brought so much light into their life will be leaving soon, comparing the awe they feel looking at her to gazing at the moon.

In the *Vide Noir* film, Lady Moonbeam is the fortune teller who Vernon visits early in the film. Although she does later save him in a sense by leading him away from the police during a raid of an underground nightclub, there is little hint of romance between them.

## "Vide Noir"

The title track of the album, "Vide Noir" is a song simultaneously about staring into the void and literally taking the drug by the same name. The narrator seems haunted by a voice whispering their name "without making a noise, calling out from a pure, black void." This could be the narrator mourning someone they lost, or a personification of the drug, embodying their addiction and loss of their sense of self. They have shed tears of sorrow and joy, noting that both are mere drops in their cup as their mind is destroyed by the drug. They have taken on a nihilistic state of mind, asking rhetorically "so what if I'm living out past the edge?" and "so what if I never come back again?" They describe themselves as an aimless soul, and in the end may die of an overdose, stating "these are the last words that I ever said" after asking "where can you go when it's all in your head?"

Schneider describes the song as "how I imagine the city sometimes. It's this thing you can get sucked into it, sort of forever lost. But maybe there's something kind of beautiful about it, too, and kind of giving yourself over to the void. A lot of the record deals with just kind of facing the realities of the universe and I think that's staring into the void."

The lines "Many evils have I enjoyed, prowling the night raising hell with the boys, getting high on a pure, black void" may be lyrical references to other songs: "The World Ender" ("I’ll tear through the night, and I'll raise some hell") and "Dead Man's Hand ("I stared right into the endless void"). These suggest the song could be from the perspective of a World Ender, however the song is not referenced in the film.

## "Emerald Star"

    "Emerald Star" is the culmination of the album's narrative, bookending it by concluding the story that began with "Lost in Time and Space." This song describes Vernon's disappointment in finding that after he "came all the way through time and space, to take you away and out of this place," his love interest, the titular Emerald Star Lee Green, "never loved" him. Vernon realizes he was squandering his love "on an emerald in the sky," something beautiful yet forever out of reach.

An instrumental version of "Emerald Star" serves as the end credit music for the *Vide Noir* film and excels at concluding its narrative and emotional arcs.

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4  "NPR segment about the songs that influenced *Vide Noir*
2. ↑ 2018 Uproxx interview
3. ↑ Lord Huron Fanclub Facebook Q&A Ben Schneider: "Every Lord Huron album exists in the same universe, though it might take a dimensional portal to get between them. The connections aren’t always linear or direct, but characters may re-emerge at any time. Many characters (including the performers mentioned earlier) from Strange Trails appear in the stories of Vide Noir."
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Vide Noir press release
5. ↑ Q&A with the LHFC
6. ↑ 2018 StereoGum interview
7. ↑ NPR interview

"Lost in Time and Space"
"**Never Ever**"
"**Ancient Names (Part I)**"
"Ancient Names (Part II)"

"**Wait by the River**"
"Secret of Life"
"Back from the Edge"
"The Balancer's Eye"

"When the Night is Over"
"Moonbeam"
"Vide Noir"
"Emerald Star"