Video Premiere:
"Somewhere, N.D." by Head North
Photo by Eli Ritter
Head north
"Somewhere, N.D." is a beautiful track from the album The Last Living Man Alive Ever In The History Of The World by Head North, and we're incredibly pleased to premiere the music video for it! Head North's drummer Ben Lieber seamlessly blends art and music in this vid, spending weeks creating the video by hand by compiling images collected through his travels to create a music video that tells a story via collage. Watch the music video for "Somewhere, N. D." and read more about the process of creating the video below.
What made you want to take on the job of creating the music video, and why this song in particular?
Ben: I’ve been doing digital collages for the past year or so. It’s something I do to stay busy, and it’s also very relaxing and helps calm me down when I need it. Prior to this video, I never dipped into created video collages; putting the collage to a timeline, essentially, and the concept of that was really interesting. It seemed like a massive feat to accomplish before I started, but that was enticing to me. I knew it would be good to have something to put out while we were on the road, and I felt this was something I could do on my own. I felt inclined to do this song just because I think it paints a pretty in-depth mental picture, and I wanted to try and re-create it.
How long did it take you to think of this idea? Were there ever any other video ideas that were completely different than this?
Ben: It was kind of just like, I had the idea, and then just obsessed over it and knocked it out in like two weeks. That’s how I work; I dive headfirst into a project and let it consume me, and I get overwhelmed throughout the process, but I prefer to be all in like that.
Was this storyline already planned out in your head, or did it come to you and grow into something more as you spent multiple weeks creating the video?
Ben: I tried to map out a general storyboard of how the video would go; what the characters would do and such. It kind of evolved as I made it, and I started to just follow the flow of it and let it make itself rather than stick to the story strictly, but I think the general idea comes through.
Where did you come across these images? Are there any specific meanings behind these images?
Ben: It started with me collecting vintage magazines and books. LIFE mags from 1950-1970 are my go-to, but I have a wide selection. I kind of just come across them in my adventures. I don’t actively go searching to buy them. But I’ll skim through them and pinpoint specific images that speak to me. I scan them into a digital image with a photo scanner, and then manipulate them via Photoshop. I first started collaging in a physical medium (cutting them out, pasting on paper, old school), but I really like the versatility of doing it digitally, and it also allows me to keep the magazines intact, and to also now do video collages. I didn’t choose any of these images for any specific reason other than that they spoke to me.
The process of creating the video must have required lots of patience, what got you through it?!
Ben: Lots of coffee and hummus.
What other forms of art play a role in the band’s writing style and sound, if any?
Ben: Tough question, haha. We’re all very multi-faceted. We try to not just have one angle to what we’re creating: Visual, physical art (collages/film photography/painting/etc.) are just as big a part of this band as the music is.
Band Bio
Some lights are flashes, others steady beams of illumination. For Head North, a band which began shortly after its principal songwriters Brent Martone, Ben Lieber, and Alex Matos graduated from a Buffalo, NY high school, light served as a blank slate, a chance to regroup and refocus. In 2014, the band released Bloodlines, an EP which served a fulcrum point between lockjaw pop-punk and shadowy indie-rock, and followed the path of many of their contemporaries. A glimmer of ingenuity, a blip of subdued color and sound. Then nothing.
Then a return. As the band's first proper LP, The Last Living Man Alive Ever In The History of the World extends its conceptual aims past its novel-length title. A self-described account of an alternate universe where God and love are outlawed, Head North travel through this uneasy crisis to bridge the gap between the spiritual and the earthbound, the human and the heartfelt. Gone away are pure bouts of aggression. Instead, Brent Martone's prickled whimper takes on the measured release of Americana while strings, clipped synths, and horns swell through the record's menagerie of textures. Tracks like "Somewhere, ND" marry wisps of spoken-word confessions in an almost prayer-like stance, while "Pulse" heightens Martone's sermon to arena-rock mounts. Over fourteen songs, a journey is captured which carries the same base allegiance to atmosphere and pressure as their past releases, but Head North's covered ground has more purpose in its grit, more wisdom in its motion. And perhaps that's all this New York band needed to keep going: a chance to reflect on where they've been, and an appeal to how they could best continue ahead.
Stream the new album here and see U.S. tour dates below.
Tour Dates:
12/6: Nashville, TN @ The End
12/7: Columbus, OH @ Woodlands Tavern
12/8: Detroit, MI @ The Shelter
12/9: Cleveland, OH @ Mahalls
12/10: Toronto, ON @ The Hard Luck
12/12: Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
12/13: Boston, MA @ Sonia
12/14: Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bazaar
12/15: Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
12/16: Washington D.C. @ DC9
12/17: Asbury Park, NJ @ House Of Independents
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