The video got its online premiere on the Prog Rock music magazine’s blog here: http://www.progrockmag.com/news/prog-premiere-syd-arthur-reveal-new-video/

The incredible light box was kindly lent to us by the very patient Roderic Wilson from bubblevision.co.uk. I say lent, he actually set it all up for us too. For those interested, the light box runs off a matrix of HEXMOD LED’s that are controlled by laptop running a program called Madrix. Inside Madrix, we ran a que-sequence which we had pre-programmed lighting textures to the precise timings of the music. All the lighting textures were made by us too. Many thanks to Chris from lucidillusions.co.uk for teaching me how to do all of this, at such short notice.

 


As with all Baked Cakes, this was a real team effort. Thanks to Dan for manning the 2nd camera, helping me shoot everything and buying bacon sandwiches. Richard, who spent the entire day sat behind the lightbox, didn’t see any of the action as he was having to man the laptop running the lights. Probably the most boring job of the day, but certainly one of the most important.

And finally, thanks again to the jacket, we couldn’t have done it without you.

The film has been short listed in the top 20, so good luck to them!

The last few months have been a real challenge. The Gods of Editing threw everything they could at us, as we leapt hurdles and dodged obstacles, so now – a few months later than planned – the film is ready at last.

The coming months will will see film festival activity and promotion, after which will come free online availability via YouTube. And for those lucky few involved in the making of the film, your preview DVDs will be making their way to you soon! Please be patient while we brave Post Office queues, we can’t wait to show you all the finished product…

In the mean time, all news and musings relating to the project can be followed at thelastbookshop.co.uk

For those unfamiliar with Soundcloud, it’s like a kind of YouTube for audio, meaning our audio output at last has the kind of interconnected platform our videos have had for years.

www.soundcloud.com/webakestuff

To celebrate, here’s a rare track originally composed for my 21st, featuring Tom “Baffin Island” German, Dan “Rustic Knives” Fryer, and the legendary Rob “Codes in the Clouds” Smith on guitar. Remember, “the only way to fight a giant is to hit him with rocks between the eyes.”

A lot of my childhood was spent in mid Wales, where the barren craggy landscapes and tumbledown slate ruins seem to hold a memory of generations of hardship. Where small Welsh mining communities once toiled, often there is now emptiness. A distant echo of long dead industry. A silence broken only by sheep, wind and small avalanches of scree.  Finding a mouldy sheep skull among nettles in a rocky pile that used to be someone’s fireplace, you wonder how people ever called this place home. How did they ever make ends meet, and huddle here against the cold?

Nothing happens in this video, yet still it stirs up all these thoughts and memories.

Or rather, a lot happens in this video, but all of it is played out on the face of a lone woman.

The music video is for a track by Keaton Henson, titled You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are.

That’s pretty mesmerising isn’t it?

I do really like the song, but I have to say I admire the director, David Wilson, for pulling off so much in a single shot. And I think Sophie Thompson gives an acting masterclass. She does so much with so little. Whatever you may think her character’s story is, you can’t deny how extremely moving she is to watch.

The video was filmed not in Wales, but in Dartmoor, where in the nineteenth century my ancestors would have been living. Yet still it speaks to me of life on those harsh Welsh mountainsides.

We don’t know how lucky we are, indeed.

Long live the days of nice small well executed campaigns like this.

I do warn you, the video is a little alarming to start with but oh god, is it funny too.

It’s to no surprise that he’s got a bit of a following because of that rather vibrant video. The more fantastic thing is that he’s actually finished recording an EP and is booking gigs off the back of this fame. Of course there are going to be a large amount of ironic fans out there, but i’d also like to think that the majority of the fans find something inspiring about him.  I’d hazard a guess that it isn’t his emotive lyrics or spine tingling chords, but more the fact that he’s actually battled with the creative process and come out of the other side with a finished article…and perhaps overcome a few of his own inabilities too. To be honest, i find it quite refreshing just to focus on that instead of whether the final output has any redeemable quality or not.

asd

But sometimes on the other hand, you just have to hold your hands up and admit that some people are just better than you, and feel humbled by their mere existence. This was certainly how I felt when I came across the gem that is “Dalston Superstars.” Enjoy!