Irish duo JamLive have revealed their latest music video for new single ‘Flower’ which is the third track from their latest album with the same title.
Shot on location in Ireland on the Ticknock mountains around Dublin, the music and film duo’s latest video tells the story of a relationship falling apart between a father and son due to illness.
Blending rock, alternative genres and pop into their latest songs, the duo, made up of J (singer) and Jacob (drums), have been setting a new trend within the visual music space.
Having set out to create powerful stories through music and film, JamLive create unique visual concepts for each of their videos to capture the lyrics and engage audiences with different themes, both abstract and vivid.
Music video – Flower
Directed, edited and produced by JamLive, ‘Flower’ features independent actors Roger Moore and Michael Moore who play father and son. Arranged by John Byrne, and shot by Adrian. Joe Egan produced the song with illustrations created by Jakki Moore.
Discover the duo’s creative process in our exclusive interview and learn more about their newest project.
Can you tell us a bit more about how JamLive got started?
J: JamLive started in May 2019 on a rooftop. Jacob and I were having a few beers when we thought of the idea of starting a duo.
We’d been friends for many years in school and had worked together before.
With our similar taste in music and our passion for the creative arts, we recorded our first single two months after having the idea.
As a music and film duo band, how do you approach defining your songs with visual themes?
J: I’m a very visual person. Most of the time the music we write evokes strong imagery which I feel compelled to expand on.
It actually normally happens first as I’m writing on guitar or listening to a demo in Jacob’s house.
This also helps me expand the song in the songwriting stage and serves as motivation to continue finishing the project.
I’m obsessed with expressing the emotions of the song visually as soon as we start working.
The stronger the imagery usually the more attached I am to the song.
Most of the time we follow these visual ideas and get Jacob’s creative input as we direct. We also both love acting and it’s definitely something I see ourselves expanding into further.
Are there any artists or film directors that influenced your visual choices?
J: Certainly. Although I tend to try and give myself enough freedom to follow the initial aesthetic vision I had based on the feeling I got off the song.
Once we’re on set my influences usually subconsciously take hold as we make decisions on the different angles to film.
We are definitely very spontaneous when filming as most of the time we are following this strange creative vision for each song – which is usually quite abstract, vivid and with a cohesive narrative shape.
Honestly, we skip detailed storyboards and prefer to test locations out practically to get a real feel. Although we try and follow this vision and general story in our minds, most shot angles are decided upon the day of shoot.
How did the music video concept for ‘Flower’ first come about?
J: I guess I wanted to go as deep as I could go – as strong of an emotion as I could possibly capture. Nothing really captures that more than when a relationship is falling apart because of an illness – especially between a father and son.
We wanted to capture this bond and affection between them as the situation unfolds.
The song had intimations that indicated this would be a powerful narrative both lyrically and instrumentally.
I found I always wanted to capture where the song went and how it pulled you back and gave you transcendent and eternal hope.
‘A crack in the pavement, horses run through stables, a Light in the dark’.
A loving bond, a threatening loss and an ultimate hope.
The visual story came to me in waves and I eventually decided on a five day sequence of events to express as the father visits his son and they bond as he emotionally deals with the changing situation each time.
I filmed this one myself with actor Roger Moore (Dad) and Michael Moore (Son) who are surprisingly not related.
However, Jacob and I were constantly redoing the performance scenes until we finally both found the right environment to film up in Ticknock mountains in Dublin.
What kind of messages do you want to send out with ‘Flower’?
J: Messages of love, hope and renewal.
The opening lyrics really serve to express how people may claim to ‘know how you feel’.
People have no idea how you really feel or what’s really going on – Therefore the ‘please, don’t say, you know how I feel’ lyric was a disturbing agitation I had with this feeling of isolation and misunderstanding.
Ultimately, ‘Flower’ is symbolic of hope. This hope may grow in the crack of a pavement or through the weeds – going against all odds and its strength is forever powerful.
It’s a Light in the dark. Maybe that’s what flowers always serve to show us.
Being based in Dublin, how is the music industry adapting to the changes in digital distribution and artist discovery? Have there been any challenges to getting your music out there?
J: Honestly like most things Ireland is behind everyone else. The talent in Ireland is so incredibly immense and yet the digital infrastructure is so lacking in any diversity or innovation. It’s so centralised and stagnant.
Most of the time I look to promote in the UK, Europe, Russia or the States.
I also want the music to be completely free from what can be a pressurising and somewhat begrudging community here.
Although a lot of people really do support and help us in here in Dublin. Platforms like YouTube and Spotify allow us to be international at anytime.
There hasn’t been too many challenges at the moment but we do wish to try and get our album out to a greater and genuine audience in the future.
Jacob: Yes it’s hard to get people to listen. Especially during the pandemic; before that you could at least play gigs to try to gain followers. For the last year all we could do is use social media, and neither of us are really interested in that side of things
Do you have any other projects in the works?
J: Yes. Jacob and I are working on another album. We’ve built demos for some tracks already and are looking forward to diving into a new project and creative venture soon.
Jacob: We have been writing material for our next project since last summer. Also John was planning to direct a short film.
Any upcoming tour dates we should know about?
J: Unfortunately not at the moment. We may have something planned in Dublin and Marbella in December.
To discover more about the duo, see their latest videos on YouTube. You can also discover their tracks on Spotify. Connect with JamLive on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Source: darwinbeats
