Following on from last years collaboration between Bob Hillman and Bowie/Rufus Wainright/Suzanne Vega guitarist/soundscape artist Gerry Leonard, aka Spooky Ghost, the pair are releasing a new video for the track Urban Wildlife, and we’re absolutely delighted to be premiering it right here on Backseat Mafia today.
Of the track, Bob told us “Urban Wildlife is about the coyotes who live on the hill in my San Francisco neighborhood, Bernal Heights. For a few years, we drove over that hill every day on the way to school, and would regularly encounter one or both of the animals, who would sometimes stop traffic by standing in the middle of the street and staring down cars. There are more coyotes in the neighborhood now, including a whole family in the fenced-in reservoir across the street from my house. From our upstairs window, we see them walking up the street and lounging in the sun; we also hear their eerie howling pretty much every night.
It was co-written with Gerry Leonard around one of his musical ideas. In this case, he gave me a relatively developed track with the wailing electric guitars you hear in the final product. I built in a melody, but didn’t consider Gerry’s tempo, such that – when I went to record acoustic guitar and vocals – it seemed very, very slow; I probably should have come up with something wordier. We considered scrapping it, but worked with it and – in the final analysis – it’s one of my favorites.”
Mixing up these buzzsaw guitar sounds and these rather beautiful and hypnotic guitar and banjo lines, its like scuffed up, gritty country / indie, blessed with beautiful tunes and these eastern influenced string solos that add to this beautiful, harmonious, experimental feel.
The accompanying video, was shot by Videographer Andrew Bland. Bob takes up the story ”Andrew regularly shoots coyotes and other wildlife in his San Francisco neighborhood and beyond, supplied the 4K footage that’s the backbone of the video. He’s not a professional nature photographer, but operates a pretty serious sideline, and I was thrilled to be able to partner with him: what he had was very precisely what I was looking for. Thanks to Andrew’s patience, determination, and skill – not to mention enthusiastic and flexible partnership – Urban Wildlife the song has the perfect visual accompaniment.“
Take a few minutes out of your day, and check this out. Seriously, its worth it.
