Synopsis

Hooverphonic perform inside a shadowy, fragmented urban environment as the video breaks the image into four synchronized horizontal panels. The band members appear in enclosed metropolitan spaces, with each section showing related action from a different camera position, lens, or angle. The shifting viewpoints make corridors, streets, and interiors feel disorienting and claustrophobic, turning the song's romantic fixation into an atmospheric study of perception. Rather than following a conventional narrative, the clip builds its effect through repetition, spatial distortion, and the contrast between Geike Arnaert's calm vocal presence and the restless visuals.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video is structured around a four-screen composition. The panels were filmed with separate cameras that recorded the same environments from different positions and perspectives, creating a fractured view of the city.

• Its visual design places the clip closer to experimental video art than to a conventional band performance. The repeated spaces and mismatched viewpoints deliberately disrupt normal perspective and orientation.

• "This Strange Effect" is a Hooverphonic cover of a song written by Ray Davies and first made famous by Dave Berry in 1965. Hooverphonic recorded it for the 1998 album *Blue Wonder Power Milk*.

• The recording was produced and mixed with Mark Plati, whose credits include work with David Bowie, while Geike Arnaert provides the lead vocal.

• The song later gained additional exposure through its use in a Motorola SLVR advertising campaign and in the television series *La Femme Nikita*.

• A Thievery Corporation remix appeared on the 1999 compilation *Abductions and Reconstructions*, extending the track's connection to the electronic and trip-hop scenes.