Jean-Michel Jarre and M83′s "Glory" Video Explores the Absurdity of Sports

French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre recently shared a new track called “Glory”, which features M83‘s Anthony Gonzalez. Today, the track got a music video directed by Lisa Paclet. It features several people competing in a variety of competitions.

Paclet discussed the video’s concept in a statement: 

When I listened to “Glory”, I was struck by the lyrics “we could never have it all” that, to me, crystalized a very contemporary feeling of impotence. Jean-Michel Jarre told me he wanted the video to be “dark and sunny,” so I opted for a slightly sardonic take on the concept of “glory.” I wanted to glorify useless action though a series of absurd sports, preformed by athletes that run after unreachable, constantly shifting goals. Their performances are scrutinized by a uniform, stoic, public whose reaction to their efforts is synchronized and coordinated like a well-oiled machine.

As the clip progresses, the athletes subtly rebel against their pointless task though deliberate action of failure, breaking the repetitive cycle to which they are constrained. Their failures reveal a breach of humanity, which ricochets within the public, who in turn reacts in a progressively entropic fashion.

In related news, former Swedish House Mafia member Steve Angello recently remixed “Glory”. Listen to it above.

For his as-yet-untitled album, Jarre also collaborated with Gesaffelstein on “Conquistador“, Massive Attack‘s 3D on “Watching You”, and Tangerine Dream on “Zero Gravity”. (The latter was recorded before the death of founder Edgar Froese.)

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