There’s a fair bit of conjecture around at the moment as to whether this is a completely contrived video, or if it’s all true. For what it’s worth, I don’t think Keaton’s that good an actor, I do think it’s real, and I think it’s absolutely heartbreaking.
Not least of which, it’s a beautiful song.
So, a week or so ago a band called “Lambs Become Lions” dropped an email in my inbox about their new album, “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose”. The email was pretty brief, but they won me over with the way they finished off the pitch.
“Maybe this band becomes our lives. Maybe we play every city we can get to. Maybe we make tons of hopefully great music videos. Maybe we move on to new adventures. Maybe we don’t. For now, it’s all about this music.
It’s an incredible feeling having your own potential determined by those of us making the music – but we still want and love when people check out the songs. We’d like you to be one of the first.”
I’m a sucker for sentiments like that, so I gave the album a spin… and absolutely loved it. Problem is, I emailed the guys back to get a bit more detail about the band bio and so on (as their website hardly paints a picture), but still haven’t received a reply.
So, while this post is a bit light on band details, I will tell you that lead singer Eric Conlon has the kind of voice that just feels… comfortable. And the music itself feels… light. Basically, this is music that exemplifies the “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose” saying. And that’s a whole bunch of awesome.
In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been writing on this blog much these days. Part of that is just life getting in the way; getting married and starting a new job tends to have that effect. But perhaps the even larger part is that I just haven’t been inspired by much music lately, which is a terrible affliction for a music blogger.
Thankfully, then the Oh Hellos came around to change that.
The first full-length album from this brother/sister combo, “Through the Deep, Dark Valley”, is simply beautiful. A self-contained concept album, it’s one that you really need to listen to all in one go, in chronological order. When you do, you’ll find – like I did – that you hardly notice the passing of one song to the other. This is just a story that weaves emotion around you effortlessly, and by the end you feel… well, this is going to sound totally cliched, but redeemed. You really need to listen to the whole thing to get the full effect, but at the very least listen to “I have made mistakes” and you’ll know what I mean.
Seriously you guys. Listen to this music. I haven’t told someone to do that in a very long time, with much conviction. But you need to listen to this.
Although the video (directed by one of my favourite actors, Idris Elba) is, well… a tad confusing, it’s undeniably one of the most beautiful strange things I’ve ever seen. And Elba is absolutely unforgettable in it.
Conveying this absolute sense of loss, and then undeniable, unfettered joy, it’s simply spell-binding. I think this video will tell a different story to everyone who watches it… but to me, the sheer fearlessness of it all is just absolutely crushing.
Honestly, the Gaslight Anthem exemplify the saying that simplicity is beautiful. Just like this song.
Hand up to a serious count of nepotism on this one, but here’s one of the latest tracks from my step-bro’s band, “Fairchild Republic“, called “Arcadia”. It’s a pretty cool tune, although the guitar line puts me in mind of Two Door Cinema Club’s kick ass “What You Know” a bit too much for comfort. That said, dudes are onto something and I’ll be watching with interest.
“I don’t know where I belong, I don’t know where I went wrong… oh, but I can write a song.”
True dat.
Hard to believe that it’s been over four years since I first wrote about Robert Francis on this blog, and even harder to believe that the dude still isn’t a household name.
Hopefully all that is about to change, with the release of his album, “Strangers in the First Place”, out May 22nd on Vanguard Records.
To celebrate the upcoming release, Robert and the folks over at Vanguard have put up a copy of “Some Things Never Change” for free download below, in exchange for giving them your email address. It’s an awesome song, but I’ll tell you what… the real story here is the live version of the tune that they’ve just released. Robert live absolutely kills it.
Watch the video – and have your heart broken – below, and if you dig, download the recorded version below that.