With the announcement of Bradfield’s second solo album due August 14th via Montyray/The Orchard we are presented with the video for the third track – ‘The Boy From The Plantation’
Directed by longtime Manic Street Preachers collaborator Kieran Evans, the video features James in Wales alongside archive footage sourced specifically for the video.
Kieran Evans: says of the video: “James and I have been collaborating on visuals for the record but we didn’t want this track to just be a performance piece. We wanted it to connect with Chile itself and to reflect where Victor Jara had come from, what the backdrop to him growing up looked like. I spent a long time looking for Chilean archive footage from the ’40s and ’50s, a lot of it ended up being jingoistic stuff shot by and for Americans. Eventually, I came cross a mass of footage shot by one person who’d travelled the country over a period of time and recorded all aspects of Chilean life on his cine camera. The period of that footage being roughly the years Victor was alive.”
Instantly recognisable as Bradfield from the first picked guitar string. This is more of a straight forward rock track as opposed to the instrumental ‘Seeking The Room With The Three Windows’ or the haunting ‘There’ll Come A War’ he has previously shared from the album. The work of a master tunesmith this is a well thought out track from the mellow section of the Manics back catalogue, this track would sit well on their ‘Know Your Enemy’ album. Theres a simmering force of nature that is Bradfield himself, barely contained, be it his powerful vocal chords or guitar chords. A cracking track from what will no doubt be a solid album.
Check it out, here
Pre order the album here
Track listing for Even In Exile:
1. Recuerda
2. The Boy From The Plantation
3. There’ll Come A War
4. Seeking The Room With The Three Windows
5. Thirty Thousand Milk Bottles
6. Under The Mimosa Tree
7. From The Hands Of Violeta
8. Without Knowing The End (Joan’s Song)
9. La Partida
10. The Last Song
11. Santiago Surprise
