“We shot it together with our director David Munce on my farm outside of Sydney in Australia. Two videos, actually,” says Los Angeles-based Austrailian troubadour Andy Clockwise. “Just the three of us. It was freezing cold in the middle of winter and the horses kept running into the shot, so we thought we would keep them in it. David is a local of the area near the farm and you would see him running from behind the camera to suddenly use a chainsaw or be saddling a horse or building a fire. What a guy.”
Horses, chainsaws, and freezing cold weather…welcome to Local Hero.
Practicing the art of reinvention Clockwise, along with bandmate Mathew Gardner, formally presented themselves under their new musical persona of Local Hero in September with the single, “The Big Think.” Stretching itself out, the song unfolds with two familiars: sweet shades of 80s New Wave tones and Clockwise’s penchant for expressing, exploring and exorcising the human darkness and it can be found on their forthcoming triple album (yes, you read that correctly) titled War Stories. It’s a work that he describes as, “a pop musical ode to human dysfunction, heartache, sex, grief, revolution, and the death of our youth.”
Take as long as you need to digest that.
As for the video: it’s a journey. A drift down tree-lined paths, flowers fading in reverse, and Clockwise’s steady and resonant, if not somber, narration and contemplation of the situation at hand. As for “The Big Think” itself which Clockwise calls, “a love song that didn’t work out” it, too, was something of a journey:
“I wrote this originally on the airplane from Sydney to LA and recorded the vocals on my laptop in the bathroom,” Clockwise shared. “Some of them are still in that recording but Omar Yakar Jr. (War On Drugs, Perfume Genius) who co-produced this record with me made them sound less Qantas Boeing 747.”
While we await that triple album, get acquainted with the human condition through the lens of Local Hero.
“The Big Think” is available on these streaming platforms.
Facebook | Official website
