Though a bit of videographic masterpiece, what makes this song is the track itself! Featured in the FIFA 2011 video game soundtrack, it does not disappoint!
Opening with a bit of a shrill voice, "Can't Sleep"'s piercing intro is not at all harsh, but simply lets it be known to the listener that Lux's track is here to tantalize your ear. The track then proceeds into that feeling of fresh crispness that a cool night air can breath into your lungs. Though this relaxing grooveability is eminent in the track, it definitely does not at all put you to sleep (after all the title is "Can't Sleep"). If the great danceability and beats of "Can't Sleep" don't make you want to move, then the track's underlying dilemma of distance or separation should at least prompt attention.
The lyrics of "I can't sleep, when the sun goes down", "Just want to feel like we're together", speak volumes to anyone who has ever experienced time away from a loved one, a fond location of comfort or even just a desire.
The track's full lyrics are as follows and bear a multitude of poetic prowess...
The video does just as much justice as it is steeping with social commentary. Right of the bat, our dilemma is staged within the context of 2 male protagonists each grappling with their own illusionary case of loss and separation anxiety. What one at first would guess are 2 sorts of case studies to be analyzed as they are compartmentalized into their darkened shadowy dwellings. Both, seemingly hiding from the terror of their separation. Yet after ample preparation and thus a presumed accumulation of courage to venture, the protagonists race out of their homes that were shrouded hidden in the dark, out into the night. At this point, our 2 case studies become one as they encounter and rendezvous with one another in the darkest twilight at of all places a playground or schoolyard. At first seemingly confrontational the video throws any heterosexually biased viewer for a loop as our 2 protagonists join together in romantic embrace.
It is now that all the details of the video leading up to this point make much clearer sense or at least are explained in greater detail by the video's conclusion.
Our protagonists "Can't sleep when the sun goes down" because they need the night and nightlife more than ever to be able to finally be together and unite in their affection for one another. It is only in darkness or a sort of periphery of life that their relationship can seemingly exist or be actualized. Hence they remain hidden from not only the world that does not accept but one another during the day when all is more easily visible. Beyond that, perhaps the necessary night time meeting and empowerment that the night time brings is reflective of electronic music's history and relationship to the Gay community which contributed much to night life and electronic music culture. Additionally what also perhaps could be drawn from this concluding scene is the setting at a playground which simply might just infer how couples just want to play and have carefree fun. Or perhaps it is even less stipulated than that, and is just mirroring how love should be as innocent of an experience as our childhood play dates at the schoolyard were.
Clearly a piece championing gender rights and freedom of relationship, the video however does not at all need to be anything complicated. It is simply one hell of a damn good track and one intelligent video.
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