Andrew Barnum's newest track is 'Residue', a cool, urgent groove with a circulating bassline, cracking live beats, and a sensuous, whispering mood that takes you 'chugging down into the chemistry in your skin'.
Barnum's cooing vocals (think Cohen, Graney, Cave) resonate with an echo of his recent experience of isolation and yearning – he's asking you to reconnect with what's really important in our fragile lives; the precious remains of your most fragile memories are a magical elixir.'Residue' began its evolution from folky demo played on solo guitar, to a jazzy, atmospheric strut via Lucius Culliton's live side stick snare, and Boris Hunt's cruising Wurlitzer piano and walking basslines. The folk guitar becomes a descending electric in the choruses.
It's a slow burner that'll weave itself inside your own conscious, as you hum the entrancing melody that hints at menace while offering opportunity.
"The lyrics were inspired poetics, looking back on moving from city to country, feeling the pull of our past home, friends, relationships, and keeping our most potent memories close," Andrew says.
"The poetry was inspired by Patti Smith, and her story of a favourite café and a lost coat: 'The coat off your back'."
The invitation to make the music video was a spark of family connection between Andrew's Melbourne cousin Vicki Jones (Instagram @vickijonesphotographer), after connecting with her portfolio of time-lapse images of skylines, orchids, sunrises and night-scapes of the moon and stars.
scenestr is proud to premiere the music video for 'Residue' today. Enjoy.
"The way Vicki was able to match her collection of photographic atmospheres and moods so effortlessly to inter-connect with the emotional mood of the music and lyrics was really a masterful feat of editing and flow," Andrew says.
Adds Vicki: "I started developing image time-lapses as a full-time practice during the COVID lockdown in Melbourne.
"The 4 days of a flower opening is experienced in 10 seconds, or in around 2,000 images. The time-lapse seems to be an intensified way of seeing, where magical moments happen.
"Andrew Barnum is my uber-cool cousin because when I was a teen he was in a band!
"I remember dancing at The Underground during the 1980s in Melbourne to his and Lissa Barnum's Vitabeats tracks, 'Boom Box' and 'Audrey Hepburn'.
"I have since followed his creative life and was delighted when he invited me to choose one of his tracks from his recent album 'Dear Ancestor' and make a time-lapse video.
"The opportunity to combine images with his music was a great experience."
