Those new to the chamber-folk music of Raine Hamilton are in for a special treat today (as are current fans), as we get to share with you this incredible new live video for Brave Land (Directed and edited by Julie Epp & Cinematography by Julie Epp and Jordan Popowich) – a song about how we are earth-bound and spiritual beings at once. It’s also the title track from her forthcoming new album.
The video is equally minimalist in look as it is metaphorical, surrounded by wet clay pots made from the earth (by Candice Tremblay)…all elements present a cohesive force that has a real underlying connection and a conviction that comes across in Raine’s superb delivery.
Raine Hamilton on Brave Land:
We filmed this live video for “Brave Land” amidst a collection of freshly thrown clay pots because I wanted to create a grounding presence. The song is about the beauty of being alive and the courage that can take. In their newly-thrown state, clay pots are fragile and sensitive. These pots are the perfect symbol of us on the earth; They have the courage to take earthly form.
You can feel the earthiness of that material in the room. The wet pots need to be handled carefully because they collapse easily, just barely held together.
This is the title track from my new album, written from an outsider’s perspective. I am a prairie dweller. My home town of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is a flat, flat place. Here, we are exposed, seen as we are, with no shadow to stand in, even. Nothing between us and our maker. It is a still, humbling and vulnerable place. I have reveled in that flatness my whole life. My last two records are steeped in those flat land lessons.
As I started to tour more, I began to connect with different places. At first, I was confused when mountain dwellers would give directions like, “Go up the mountain and turn left.” Up? We don’t have directions like that on the prairie. It is not a thing. But up really intrigued me.
If the prairie was teaching me to be still, the mountains were teaching me to move. Mountains are a landscape that connects two different worlds. They are land, reaching up into the realm of the sky. Wow. “That is brave!” I thought. This brave land connecting the earth-bound into spirit.
With the courage of reaching comes the beauty of connection, and the wisdom of the lessons that are possible on that path. So, that is where the main themes of this record come from: courage, connection, and wisdom.
The video features Raine Hamilton on vocals and guitar, Quintin Bart on double bass, and Natanielle Felicitas on cello.
Recorded and mixed by Lloyd Peterson. Directed and edited by Julie Epp. Cinematography by Julie Epp and Jordan Popowich. Makeup by Aileen Audette. Costuming by Lee Hrenchuk. Pottery by Candice Tremblay. Original song by Raine Hamilton, string arrangement by Raine, Quintin, and Nat.
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