Pairing filmic visuals to the stately and atmospheric score provided by the London duo, the official video for “Hold My Wine” arrives like a coming-of-age classic conceived for the silver screen.
Tapping into the themes of transition and insecurity at play in song, Bo Morgan, the creator/director behind the video explains:
“It’s about self belief, determination and finding your voice. On the first listen Hold My Wine felt like it was about the identity crisis you mind transitioning from a young teenager to an adult. The isolation and trying to understand where you fit in this incredibly complicated world. Which oddly doesn’t stop as an adult. As soon as that chorus dropped with the lyrics ‘stand out of the way’; it felt deeply deeply emotional to me and elicited strong feelings of determination and motivation… It was a cathartic and inspiring video to make.”
A song described by the band’s Jack Ratcliffe to be about that moment “when you look up from the narrow corridor of your own thoughts and are seized by the idea that everyone else has progressed and developed, while you are stuck in an unchanged rut”, “Hold My Wine” is a song that’s full of earnest reflection, but never mired by the tropes of cliché.
From its swaying acoustic guitars to its glimmering 80s-inspired synths and enrapturing story-like lyricism, it's a stirring, bittersweet listen that paves a promising marker on the route towards their ‘Even In The Shade’ EP release on 4 November 2022.
With their consistency and knack for rich melodies and contemplative atmospherics paying-off, the new EP is the sound of a band exceeding their potential — and not afraid to reach further. From the quiet circumspection on “Mothering”, to the intricate acoustica of “Tombstone Teeth”, to the all-encompassing “TV Dinner”, or the quiet caress of “Sydenham Place”; it’s a collection that illustrates the Arliston sound growing in stature and evolving in new and unexpected ways. Produced by the duo, the EP was mix-mastered by Brett Shaw (Foals, Florence and the Machine).
