Synopsis

Nightwish's "Lanternlight" follows Floor Jansen through a dreamlike landscape shaped by memory, loss, and farewell. She appears amid stark natural settings, abandoned objects, drifting snow, water, and a buried piano, while archival-style images and fragments of an earlier life surface around her. Troy Donockley's presence adds a second, reflective voice to the journey. As the seasons and memories shift, the video moves from grief toward release, ending with a quiet passage into the forest of Yesterwynde and the fading glow of a home movie.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Lanternlight" was released on September 20, 2024, the same day as Nightwish's tenth studio album, "Yesterwynde." It is the album's closing track and the final official video associated with the release.

• The video was produced by Khimoo, the Finnish production company connected with Nightwish's earlier "The Islander" video and the "Imaginaerum" film project.

• Khimoo described the project as "a lovesong" dedicated to those who were remembered, as well as to the joy of life.

• Several visual objects echo the song's themes of memory and time, including a pocket watch, a piano partly covered by snow, a boat, and old film or home-video imagery.

• The production was shot at Valofirma, also known as Lighthouse Studios, and was photographed in a widescreen 2.39:1 format.

• Floor Jansen and Troy Donockley are the two credited performers in the video. Donockley also contributes vocals to the song, giving its closing section a contrasting male perspective.

• The video ends with imagery suggesting an old film or home-video recording winding down. This mirrors the album's broader interest in memory, passing time, and the relationship between the past and the present.

• "Lanternlight" is notably restrained compared with much of Nightwish's symphonic metal catalog. The video follows that approach, relying on atmosphere, close-ups, landscapes, and carefully chosen symbols rather than a conventional performance narrative.