Today, in awesomeness, Benjamin Booker brings us a new music video for two of the strongest tracks from his self-titled debut album, released last year.
The video is a double-feature featuring his tracks “Slow Coming” and “Wicked Waters” and follows Booker on multiple trips through a single day. He’s drawn into a scene of violent racism and although the video seems to take place in the past, you still feel like it could’ve taken place on a hot summer day in modern day America. Booker gave some poignant quotes in a recent interview about the songs and the short film. When asked about “Slow Coming” –
“The first song, “Slow Coming” was written before Eric Garner or Michael Brown were killed, when I first moved to New Orleans in 2012. I was seeing friends fight for gay rights. I was seeing people who immigrated to the States struggle for decent wages and a good education. I was seeing an astounding amount of gun violence and people marching on the streets of Central City for a stop to the crime.
“I know the difference between right and wrong and I couldn’t understand how these issues I was reading about in books about the 1950s, from people like James Baldwin, could still be unresolved…
“The song was written out of that. We’ve all got iPhones and are talking about taking people to Mars, but look at how much we haven’t changed. The ‘future,’ a time when all this violence and hatred is looked at as barbaric seemed so far away to me.”
The video is especially moving, from beginning to end, as it shifts from tragic to slightly upbeat, with Booker eventually playing his guitar in a small club.
Benjamin Booker’s self-titled debut is available here, and be sure to catch Benjamin Booker’s punk-influenced blues music live, when he embarks on a tour later in March:
3/26 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
3/27 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
3/28 – Chicago, IL – Metro (SOLD OUT)
3/30 – Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
3/31 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Place
4/1 – Montreal, QC – Corona Theatre
4/3 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg (SOLD OUT)
4/4 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair (SOLD OUT)
4/5 – Washington DC – 9:30 Club
4/11 – Indio, CA – Coachella
4/18 – Indio, CA – Coachella
5/28 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound Festival
6/4 – Hunter, NY – Mountain Jam
6/5 – 6/7 – New York, NY – Governor’s Ball
6/11 – 6/14 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo
