We are catatonic with excitement at being able to bring you an exclusive look at the mesmerising new video for The Aerial Maps‘ profoundly moving track ‘The Heart Isn’t Made for Earthquakes’. The track comes off the indie supergroup’s album ‘Intimate Hinterland’, named by Backseat Mafia last year in its global list of top 100 albums for the year, and on my own personal top fifty favourite antipodean albums in 2021.
The Aerial Maps consists of a who’s who of the Australian veteran indie scene. Originally formed with the late legendary Simon Holmes of the iconic The Hummingbirds, members are currently Adam Gibson (Modern Giant, The Ark-Ark Birds), Simon Gibson (Disneyfist, Sneeze, Modern Giant), Peter Fenton (Crow), Alannah Russack (The Hummingbirds), Mark ‘Na Na’ Hyland (Disneyfist, Handsome Young Strangers, and many more) and drummer Jasper Fenton (Decoder Ring, The Laurels).
The track itself is an achingly beautiful and moving tribute to Holmes. Adam Gibson, singer, says of the track:
This song came out of a Peter Fenton riff that just fitted perfectly with some words and ideas I’d been playing around with. The words were written on the night I heard about Simon’s passing and I realised that such shocks and sadness were a part of life but that are hearts and bodies aren’t really made to deal with such shattering news. We’re in essence made to love and we all strive for that. So turning the sadness around, this song just felt right. We’re all very influenced by punk and post-punk, in my case particularly The Clash, so the feel of this song hit me right between the eyes and we felt the end result was one not of lament but of hope and heart for the future.
The inherent sense of compassion and kindness bleeds though every word, every note.
The sparkling and the jagged slashes of guitar and muscular bass launches into a sprightly effervescent reggae lilt with the beautiful theme expressed the repeated lines:
The heart isn’t made for earthquakes, the heart is made for love
There is a ragged quality to the track with the backing singers joining in to the carousing chorus with an abandoned sense of joy. Gibson’s poetry is delivered with passion: a quavering intensity, the trumpet sounding out over the clamouring voices in the background is celestial and euphoric.
Expressed with a dignity and grace, the video, filmed by Safari Lee and edited by Tenzen Tomkins, sees the band performing in a small studio in Sydney – Gibson a restless, passionate presence moving amongst the band members like a preacher, his voice with its distinct Australian diction earnest and observational at the same time, imbued with a breathtaking lyrical eloquence. The vocals are raw and unadorned, the music jangles underneath with a lilting buoyancy.
The elegiac nature of the lyrics with a deepened sense of hope and redemption reflects the visible sense of camaraderie amongst the band. The performances are mesmerising, magnetic and powerful. Above all the video is affecting: there is a joyousness to the performance piece, reflecting passionate musicians immersed deeply in the delivery of something that is simply beautiful and euphoric.
The Aerial Maps are playing a couple of gigs this month – you would be crazy not to go along if you’re in the vicinity:
Sept 10th – The Triffid, Brisbane with Halfway & Suicide Country Hour
Sept 17th – Marrickville Bowling Club, Sydney with Halfway & Bryan Estepa
We said of ‘Intimate Hinterland:
‘Intimate Hinterland’ is an instant antipodean classic: an essential and vital piece of expressive art that captures the widescreen, cinematic and endless horizons of the Australian landscapes and infuses them with raw and honest vignettes of a mundane life – sometimes filled with pathos, sometimes hilarity but at all times compassionate and kind. In that mundanity, it becomes breathtaking beautiful: honest and poignant.
You can get it though the link below:
