cold water
Directed by Dave Fox. Shot by Ronan Nissenbaum. Featuring Uly.
Following up from Uly’s March release ‘cold water’ comes his debut music video.
The video was shot on a crisp day in late February, when the Irish sea is at its coldest – with the grainy super 8 film being the perfect visual companion to Uly’s characteristic dusty, lofi sound.
The sense of intimacy that one gets from the track is reflected in the visuals – one feels like they’re just hanging out together for the day, or at least witnessing something quite private, someone looking to clear their head. It has that lazy Sunday feel.
Incorporating a subtle narrative into this loose, dreamy video, director Dave Fox wanted to make a nod to what the track was originally about.
“[…] I ended up not being able to write anything for a relatively long time, which was awful. Up to that point I’d be writing nearly every day. Nothing would really stick - nothing felt good. That kind of did a number on my head – especially because the one thing that really helped me get over any kind of mental funk in the past was now causing it. So instead of writing on Sunday’s like I’d normally do, I tried to do something else - and got back into sea swimming. Opportunities to get back in the sea just kept popping up, and I’d jump on them. I felt like I had found my thing, and it had nothing got to do with music. It just had to do with being in the water. This track is kind of like a little ode to that. It’s acknowledging that feeling of having found something that I didn’t know I needed. For lack of a better way of putting it - it’s also somewhat of a thank you – a thank you to the sea (and my friends, without whom I wouldn’t have ended up back in it really) for sorting me out.”
The first half of the video seems somewhat static, with not much movement. A moody looking Uly looks forlornly out the window, and decides to make his way to the water. Only then do things start to change. A flurry of colours, sea shots and movement ensues – reflecting a change in perspective, or at least alluding to the sense of renewed clarity that that the cold water helped bring about.
