Radical Face - The Mute (Official Video)

This was another video with the friends and family, without any real budget. Thanks again to Rick for letting us take over his house, and to everyone involved for helping on such short notice. As always, I really appreciate it.

For those wondering: We used a rock as a stunt double for the fish. We did not put a fresh water fish in the ocean.

Credits:

The Mute - Myla Hubbard
The Dad - Rick Colado
The Mom - Robin Rütenberg

Written and edited by Ben Cooper
Concept by Ben and Emeral Cooper
Footage by Destyn Patera, Mark Hubbard and Laura Bearl
Costume, clothing and props by Brittany, Diana and Emeral Cooper, and Laura Bearl

New album available 2016

Radical Face - Holy Branches (Official Video)
The Family Tree: The Branches

Radical Face YouTube Playlist:

Download The Bastards: Volume Two

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Tom, the Neighbor, never told Victoria how he truly felt. Instead, he married a woman that “made sense for him” and they had a son. The son could not speak, and Tom did not know how to handle him. He often felt his son's muteness was a punishment for loving another woman. Phillip, The Mute, eventually runs away.

[coriloves]

When I was a child I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was always so alone. Everyday at recess I would lay on the hill and watch the clouds, or climb to the top of the jungle gym and talk to my brother in heaven because that’s the closest I could get to him. I just knew he would understand me, and play with me. I’m crying such big tears listening to this song, I feel so seen and understood in a way that I can’t begin to explain. Thank you for this beautiful song.

[RowanArk]

I love how the lyrics definitely tell a story but are vague enough for anyone to relate with their own personal experiences

[emilyg]

this hurts my heart.
Aren't we all looking for someone who will listen with more than their ears?

[empyrreann]

As an autistic person who was non-verbal from when I was newborn to 5/6, this song means a lot to me... I’m constantly misunderstood and alienated because of my autism. This song reassures me and helps me feel like I’m not alone. I didn’t even know, for all these years, that this song was actually inspired by Ben Cooper’s autistic and non-verbal nephew. Knowing this makes it mean so much more to me.

[tayamichel]

I love how Radical Face's songs always let me escape into another world.

[mr_fyahz]

My favorite line is "If you only listen with your ears I can't get in"
This is so true, there are thousands of people crying out for help silently, but just because you cant hear them actually cry out "help" it doesnt mean they are not suffering.

I really really wish you guys would tour in Costa Rica in the near future, You are one of my favorite groups,
Thank you for the art you make

[CyberGhostVT]

im just wondering when parents will stop taking their kids for granted, and just learn to appreciate them and love them no matter how they turned out

[basiliskboy]

This song is, at least to me, very obviously about a nonverbal autistic kid.
It hits me a little, as an autistic person, but I really like it. I was never nonverbal myself but many others like me are.
The fact that Philip, the Mute at the centre of the story here, ultimately runs away from home is heartbreaking, mostly because it's a very relatable conclusion to come to. After all, if your dad loathes your existence, and you feel like you're nothing but a burden to your mother, maybe running away isn't that bad of an option.
Running away from home is of course never the solution, but it's not an unrealistic response to a situation like that.

Thank you, Ben, for telling a story like this.

EDIT: It's been at least a year since I left this comment, and I've since had an experience where due to social stress I was left nonverbal for a day. It reinforced my perspective on the power of this song and its message. Listening with more than just your ears is incredibly important for communication.

[ivycurtis]

I cried about five seconds into this video. I guess that it just brought back lots of memories from when I was a kid because I used to stutter all the time. The bullying and teasing made me stay as quiet as I possibly could at school and the beautiful song just got to me.

[Raypena]

I thought the song "always gold" hit me hard! this one has totally broken me down because I have a son was diagnosed with autism and he sometimes feels like the lil girl in the video but if he only new how lucky I am to be his dad! Thank you Ben Cooper for another masterpiece 🙏🏽

[cristinaguerrero]

How could you write so precisely about my childhood? And the video... I used to use clothes alike, keep shut in my room feeling ashamed for being so damn different to her... trying to feel better by dreaming, writing, reading, dancing, looking at the stars from the ceiling. I "ran out " from my country escaping from all of that just like the child, 10 years have passed and ghosts still knock on my door. This breaks my heart and at the same time makes me feel a little better... not alone. Thanks for ur music, it's really meaningful for me.

[hanielavilez]

This song speaks to my heart as a person on the Autistic Spectrum and having been trough moments of selective mutism throughout my life. I've been even called "the mute" or "ghost" by people who tries to make fun of me in university and out of it. I've always struggled to maintain friendships or just make friends. For me the concept of friendship is sometimes kind of blurry and confusing and I know that as an autistic person is difficult to find people who understand. I sometimes wish I could make them or find friends like that but I know that people perceive me as different and people hate the different. The rate of suicide among autistics is so much higher than allistics and I comprehend why, at the same time I know that out there, there are a lot of people who feel like me so I hope that your life is full of peace and great things, you can achieve anything even if the system not on our side.

[Tinkeroftime]

I really love this song. It captures such a good feeling and such a sad feeling. In the end, children hear all the things that adults yell and swear. The children understand despite being 3 or 4 what good feelings and intentions towards them are. Versus the feelings of no desire and no support. So this song, really lit a fire in me. I ran away too when I was 5. Because I didn't want to be a burden to my family. I wonder, why these things still have to happen to children everywhere. Being loved and accepted in the journey we all take. And it first starts at home. If not at home, then somewhere else with someone else. Or with yourself. I hope the kid in the video found their happy place.

[ToddyWithaHotdog]

I fall more and more in love with this song each time I hear it.

[ZoeyKoontz]

I don't know if you'll ever read this, but thank you for your music. Everything you've done strikes an amazing chord with myself. From someone who had the ability to play the instrument they love taken away from a careless car hitting them, thank you for doing what you do. 

[remya]

Well, as a child I mostly spoke inside my head
I had conversations with the clouds, the dogs, the dead
And they thought my broken, that my tongue was coated lead
But I just couldn't make my words make sense to them
If you only listen with your ears I can't get in
And I spent my evenings pullin' stars out of the sky
And I'd arrange them on the lawn where I would lie
And in the wind I'd taste the dreams of distant lives
And I would dress myself up in them through the night
While my folks would sleep in separate beds and wonder why
And through them days I was a ghost atop my chair
My dad considered me a cross he had to bear
And in my head I'd sing apologies and stare
As my mom would hang the clothes across the line
And she would try to keep the empty from her eyes
So, then one afternoon I dressed myself alone
I packed my pillowcase with everything I owned
And in my head I said goodbye, then I was gone
And I set out on the heels of the unknown
So my folks could have a new life of their own
So that maybe I could find someone
Who could hear the only words that I'd known

[emilyfisher]

The music videos for Radical Face are far to underappreciated.

[zixea]

as someone with problems and going non-verbal at times due to trauma and a conglomeration of disabilities, this song speaks to me, I love it so much.

[chel_owl]

I can't properly express my love for this song. It reminds me so much of me as a child. Just phenomenal and tear-jerking. Radical Face, never stop. Please.

[bloodthirsty]

This Song goes out to the ones
who are SCREAMING yet cannot be heard,
the ones who are crying but ALONE
the ones who are called cold hearted & SHUT themselves off
the ones who are taken for GRANTED.
---This song is for U PEOPLE.