Vids › The Weirdness, Part 1

Tristen – Gold Star

2013 · Directed by Tristen

391 Likes

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Best comments

1.“The most baffling thing about it is only 7K plays...”

More comments

2.“This song makes my soul tremble with excitement.”

The story

Tristen Gaspadarek was born in Lansing, Illinois, finished at DePaul in 2007 and moved to Nashville to throw herself into the music scene there. Her second album, Caves, came out in October 2013 on PUPsnake Records, and she called it her shot at a synth-pop record, with Kate Bush, Eurythmics, OMD and Prince as the guiding lights and a Lowry organ and a pile of synths doing the work. Stephen Hague, who mixed it, added synth strings on top. Call it a synth salad.

The Gold Star video started on other people's phones. Video Star, an app for making your own music videos, featured the song, and fans around the world posted clips using its kaleidoscope effect. Tristen took the hint. She directed it herself, shot most of it on her iPhone and edited it in iMovie, then handed it to Josh Duensing, who built his own kaleidoscope treatment with animation and effects. Gold and stars tumble through every frame over sunsets, nightlife and neon flowers, with friends like Caitlin Rose, Cortney Tidwell and Johnny Corndawg in the cast.

Impose heard Wuthering Heights in it, the Brontë novel and the Kate Bush song both: a love song about longing for someone to love you back. Gold Star later turned up on Teen Mom 2 and Catfish. Not bad for a phone and a free editing app.

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