Most musicians think long and hard about how to make “the perfect music video” – if such a thing even exists. Film clips are integral to the artists’ development of their visual sensibilities, but also need to keep an audience intrigued until the end.
Hailing from Sydney, soloist Dom Kelly has been receiving plenty of underground attention as of late, soothing ears with some lazy lo-fi rock ‘n’ roll. Kelly is still fairly new to the scene, yet his back catalogue boasts an array of basement tapes and demo recordings, each which contribute to a mollifying laid back charm that Kelly has carefully crafted. Young Man is his second foray into putting that charm onto screen.
Dom Kelly allows us a little peek into his daily routine which includes listening to vinyl, bike riding through Sydney, getting blasted on red wine and playing gigs. The dream basically.
Despite his lack of past video content, he has been gigging hard all around Sydney, showing his face in venues such as the OAF Gallery Bar, Brighton Up Bar, The Bridge Hotel, maintaining a steady fan base through his boyish charm and dreamy, instantly likeable tunes. Young Man is spectral, but not in a creepy way; it’s nostalgic without being over sentimental, and through these elements becomes oddly hypnotic. Based around simple guitar rhythms laced with wonky effects and shimmering reverb, the track invites you in immediately, all gentle percussion and pastural textures.
The video is appropriately druggy, slightly haunting but also completely relatable, enhancing the meaning and undertones of the song through distorted visuals and wistful shots of Kelly cruising through Sydney streets on his pushie. The video climaxes with glittering shots of the band playing at a house party, Kelly draped in inmate stripes, adorned with a Mac DeMarco cap and radiating scampish charm. There’s nothing majorly profound or thought-provoking going on – that’s not the point – but the combination of the spectral soundscapes of the track with the sanguine, yet slightly sad visuals, makes it kind of hard not to go back and watch again.
Young Man is the first single taken from Kelly’s debut album Strange Thoughts. The second single Only Wanna Be With You, which was released back in November, saw Kelly’s sound continue to develop, charming fans and alluring a new audience. Both tracks are recorded beautifully with reverb effects bringing out Dom Kelly’s amazing vocals tones and the freedom of bedroom recording allowing Dom to candidly explore sounds and textures, something that seems to come to him so effortlessly
