Split Into Whispers

In a parallel universe, I lived a life in the desert chasing a beautiful woman while space aliens chased me. Apparently we were competing for the same woman. From the looks of the closing shot in the video, they won. Like a comic book romance, the tragic hero is spit back into reality alone. “Split Into Whispers” unfurled slowly over the last year and a half, brewed from two sources of inspiration.

First there’s Emma dancing by my side, who embodies the dream, the reason to crawl across the desert. In Greek Mythology there are multiple archetypal muses, two of which Emma personifies in the video.

First is Calliope, representing the drive to create works of grand narrative and heroic feats. The inspiration to reach for greatness. My lyric trades the power of thunder, lightening, wind and eternal sacrifice for the almighty whispers of love. Crawling for centuries on hands and knees is required.

The second is Polyhymnia, who symbolizes the connection to the divine though sacred music. Through her we discover spiritual reverence and devotion through art. The Incan symbols sprinkled throughout draw from Emma’s own Peruvian heritage.

The other inspiration here is Eddie Perez, guitarist for The Mavericks, the epitome of otherworldly style and effortless cool that rocks across the galaxy! I even tracked down the discontinued Wampler ’65 overdrive pedal he uses with his Nash T-style guitar. Once I saw The Mavericks play “Come Unto Me” at Tarrytown Music Hall in New York a few years back, I was infused. How can I plug into this exotic musical landscape The Mavericks so cheerfully invite the whole world to partake? Shortly after, I experienced Calexico live, another blended ethnicity collective cut from a similar cloth. I was double hooked.

Finding a way to pull this Latin sci-fi romance fantasy together required some modern magic. The man behind the curtain here is the inimitable Brian Larney. Recorded at his Studio Confidential secret location somewhere in New Mexico, Brian blossomed the entire production around my multiple guitars with drums, bass, synth, horns and mixed it all together into the perfect, for lack of a better word, guacamole! For the video, with Brians editing prowess at the helm, we compiled the scenes in Adobe Premiere, constantly asking each other what the eye wanted to see next. All with a wink that we know it’s just a green screen, and so do you.

Huge thanks to William Taufic Photography for the professional shoot at his incredible studio! His attention to lighting and green screen blocking gave us the perfect palette to leap into.

Bah Da Da Dah!