Yev Kassem (aka Noah Church), has released his sophomore album ‘Bright Death’, alongside a video for the album’s opening track, 2007.
Following up from his 2020 debut release, Joy Is A House Newcastle songwriter, Noah Church has been hella busy releasing ‘Bright Death’ a stunning guitar-driven symphony that dives to the depths, delivering heartbreaking melodies that are infused with the essence of Death Cab for Cutie’s early days, crossed with the golden era of Jeff Buckley and Elliot Smith.
To pair with the killer track that is 2007, Noah collaborated with videographer and fellow Novocastrian, Nikola Jokanovic. Drawing inspiration from a short story written by Church, also titled Bright Death, the video is an exploration of death from an ‘ordinary’ viewpoint.
By way of introduction, at the beginning of the clip, the quote by Haruki Marukami “Death is this huge, bright thing, and the bigger and brighter it is, the more we have to drive ourselves crazy thinking about things” comes into focus, giving you an idea of the introspective nature of the song.
Noah poignantly touches upon the very essence and beauty of the cycle of life. Going as deep as ‘The Bhagavadgita’ and keeping it as contemporary as an Ali Smith novel he perfectly nails the subject of death “Is this it? really? this? is death? He shades his eyes. Very bright.”
Jokanovic has shared: “The clip is based on the short story Noah wrote to accompany the album, which I really loved. It was an attempt to boil down the feeling and key images from 10 pages into a three-minute clip. I love how small and homely the story is, as well as the way it casually leans into surrealism; it’s almost magical realism. I was trying to capture what I loved from the story – exploring death, this huge, impossible thing, from an everyday, suburban perspective.”
Listen to Bright Death in full below:
In support of the album and video release, Yev Kassem will be embarking on a 5-date tour, with a hometown show at Stag and Hunter, Mayfield on 29 October. See below for tour dates in full.
Bright Death album tour dates:
26 October – Mumbo Jumbo’s, Terrigal
29 October – Stag and Hunter, Newcastle
3 November – The Bergy Seltzer, Melbourne
5 November – Brunswick Artists’ Bar, Melbourne
12 November – Golden Age Cinema, Sydney
