Video Premiere: O’Hooley & Tidow – Matthew & Ted

Today sees the release of Cloudheads, the superb new album from O’Hooley & Tidow. In our recent album review, Mike Davies described it as their “most personal and most contemplative work to date; glowing with the consummate musicianship they’ve crafted over the past ten years…”.

Among the album’s many highlights is ‘Matthew & Ted’, the video for which is premiered below; you may want those tissues close to hand again. They shared the following on the song and video:

The video for O’Hooley & Tidow’s song ‘Matthew & Ted’ was filmed in the woods near to Belinda and Heidi’s house and along the canal in Slaithwaite. It also features home movies from Michele Stodart on bass and acoustic guitar and Katie Spencer on her beloved Gibson. Belinda adds; “The video has a homemade feel to it, which I think suits the song and the little story at the centre of it. It wouldn’t have suited a very big budget production, plus we feel more comfortable making our own films.”

Heidi “We live in a rural part of the Colne Valley; our house is nestled into the hillside along a local dog walking route. When our little boy Flynn was a baby, most mornings, usually as the sun was starting to rise, we’d see our neighbour Matthew and his rescue dog Ted walking past our house. During lockdown, many people would walk their dogs along our street as they headed to Heath House Woods, and often, you would hear owners shouting at them, as though the dog was an object rather than a living creature and their pal. Seeing the quiet, loving respect Matthew had for this beautiful Alsatian dog and the rapport they had together felt special, and something about that really stayed with us. Quite a few months later, we were walking in the woods with Flynn in the sling when we noticed Matthew helping Ted (who by then was getting quite old) to walk by holding his back legs for him. We found out that Ted had passed away later that evening and we felt compelled to write a song about their friendship, the mutual respect they had for each other, the passing of time and how everything changes, but that love remains. When we played the song to Matthew, who has now adopted another rescue dog called Ronnie, he became emotional, and he also told us that he enjoyed looking through his photos and videos and selecting some favourite ones of Ted for our video.”

The video ties in with the release of Cloudheads; their latest studio album which is receiving critical acclaim across the board, described by some as ‘remarkable’ and ‘exceptional.’ The duo are on tour for the next few months after launching their album at a sold out Halifax Minster show and many of their other tour dates are close to selling out (dates below).

Cloudheads is released today on No Masters. Order your copy here: https://nomasters.lnk.to/Cloudheads