Official Video Unveiled for New Single ‘Utican’
Debut Album Birthplace out October 19 via AllPoints
Album Pre-Order Available Now
“A heart-wrenching, beautiful new song” – The Fader
“A supernatural sense of peace permeates every track he touches” – Consequence of Sound
“There is just something about Ali Lacey’s music, which is some of the most beautiful that currently exists on this planet” – Earmilk
Novo Amor has unveiled the official video for his new single ‘Utican’. The track is the latest to be taken from his forthcoming debut album Birthplace, to be released on 19th October via AllPoints. Much like the video for the album’s title track – which seeks to address the monolithic problem of plastic in our oceans and was awarded Independent Video of the Year at the recent AIM Awards in the UK – the storyline for the ‘Utican’ video also centres on a topical and emotional issue, befitting of the cinematic nature of Novo Amor’s music.
Speaking about the ‘Utican’ video concept in more detail, director Ethan Graham shares: “It’s a culmination of meanings – from a young boy’s realisation of looming adulthood and sexuality, to he and his father coming to terms with the loss of his mother. His memory of her is slowly deteriorating and the only way he can hold onto this is by wearing her dresses and applying her make-up the way she used to when he was a little boy. It’s an emotive coming-of-age story that nurtures a masculine relationship in a beautifully delicate way.”
Expanding on the thoughts behind the song itself, Novo Amor shares: “Musically, Utican represents a proud, celebratory realisation that you don’t need something in your life. You are no longer a resident of your past. The name ‘Utican’ refers to the idea of becoming a resident of Utica, a place in which I’ve spent a fair bit of time and started to feel at home. Utica is more of a metaphor for that time of my life, rather than the actual place.”
Working from this home studio, Novo Amor has received acclaim for a catalogue of beautiful and melancholic songs, which have the ability to effortlessly transport the listener to another realm. On ‘Birthplace’, the sounds of his home bleed in – the distant chatter of a party across the street, Bonfire Night fireworks, seagulls that congregate on the building site next door. Even the sound of the late-night recording hours Lacey kept to avoid the sounds of construction seem to make their presence felt: “I think there’s something calming about working at night,” he says. “You can focus on smaller details and sounds.”
The songs cover many themes, thoughts, ideas – ‘Oh, Round Lake’ revisits ‘Woodgate’, ‘Repeat Until Death’ deals with friends experiencing drug addiction, ‘Seneca’ is rooted in the story of a town in Nebraska that tore itself apart over a dispute over how many horses might be kept in a yard. “But no matter what each individual song is about there’s this somber conflict across the record,” Lacey says. “It contradicts the happiness with waking up every morning another day older, another day further away from your past.”