Yip Man – the alter-ego of Scottish songwriter Al Nero, former frontman of Le Reno Amps and co-founder of Glasgow’s Armellodie Records – is today sharing his video for ‘Barnburner’; check it out below, first on Dork.
The track is top draw timeless indie faire, equal parts catchy and lyrically sharp – the kind of thing that our chums north of the border do better than anyone else. The video also features shadow puppets, which is an instant gold star, right?
“‘Barnburner’ is a fist-in-the-air declaration of how hard things can be sometimes, the bittersweetness of being bettered in a love bout,” says Al. “The chorus sways on its feet like a punch-drunk poet tag-teamed by heart and hurt, and the final quiet chord is like the last gasp death breath of the tired and defeated.
“A good friend of mine described it to me as, ‘heartache’s cathartic arctic heartbreak’, that certainly has a ring to it but I’ve no idea what it means! “To me, ‘Barnburner’ is the self-aware, self-affirming admission of defeat that we all need sometimes.”
Jason Sinclair of Poppycock Films, who worked on the video, adds: “When Yip Man comes looking for a music video all you can say is when and where. You can’t say no. He’s the new Jack Peñate! This time we went for a more straight forward performance video. We didn’t have that much time to shoot it. So we thought, turn some lights on and off and let Mr Man’s face do the rest. Job done!”
‘Barnburner’ is taken from Yip Man’s debut album ‘Braw Power’, set for release on 11th November.