What drives us to adore certain artists while discarding countless others? What makes us connect to the art of a random few? Recently at Ear to the Ground, we asked these questions and to the best of our gleanings we decided it is the love of story that drives us. The myth of Dylan, the cocksure strut of Jagger, the tragedy of Cobain – all point to the narrative that creates our musical adoration.
Enter Canadian singer-songwriter Nick Zubeck. His story is one that is compelling and rich. The existential and jazzy Skydiving is the artist’s fifth LP and an absolute dream of an album. Heavy on beautiful arrangements, instrumentals, and thoughtful lyrics, Zubeck has a life rich of experience to draw from. Though a prolific solo act, he has performed with numerous bands such as Great Lake Swimmers and most recently Mark Kozelek’s Sun Kil Moon. Skydiving finds Zubeck dealing with tragedy and re-birth. Losing both his parents to cancer and a brother to alcoholism, as well as being a single father, his art is authentic and refreshing. “The central theme of the album became more about contending and living with a certain amount of doubt, fear and vulnerability, and finding peace and beauty within that. Neil Young’s lyric “though my problems are meaningless, that don’t make ’em go away” comes to mind” says Zubeck.
We love the new album for many reasons, but its Zubeck’s positive dealings with broken experiences that we fell in love with first. His story is compelling and today we get the honor of premiering his brand new video for album closer “Primitive Patience” in which he shot with his son Jacob for a movie project. “I made this video for Primitive Patience, a song from my new record, Skydiving, with my son Jacob. He made all of the costumes and we shot it up in the Northern Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The footage was originally intended for a film project that Jacob had in mind, but he graciously let me use it for this music video. The song is sort of an ode to patience, and a rumination on how animals, including us, require a great amount of patience in order to survive and be at peace. The video blends footage of the surrounding landscape with shots of mysterious costumed characters wandering and waiting calmly in the wild.
Check it out below and pick up his great new album that is out now (purchase here).
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5GtCCCoiUI]
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