Jillette Johnson - Celestial North - Hippies and Cowboys
Nashville-based artist Jillette Johnson has just released her new EP Normal Kid and released the official video for the new song “My Closet Life.” The EP arrives with a trio of music videos directed by Grant Claire that were shot over the course of a single day on a vintage Sony Betamax 88 camera. The four song EP was co-written and produced by Joe Pisapia who collaborated with Johnson on her critically acclaimed 2021 album It’s A Beautiful Day And I Love You.
“‘My Closet Life’ is about crawling out of isolation and into the company of friends who light you up,” explains Johnson. “It’s about finding your people, and allowing yourself to belong. Influences: David Byrne, Abba, MGMT.”
The Normal Kid EP draws upon late '70s new wave, early '80s synth-pop, and '90s R&B, finding Johnson turning personal revelations about childhood dreams and adulthood realities into universal pop anthems. Last month, Johnson released the official video for “Cul De Sac” which is nearing 400,000 views.
Normal Kid follows Johnson’s first full length in more than 4 years, It’s A Beautiful Day And I Love You. The album was praised by American Songwriter, GRAMMY.com, No Depression, NPR Music, Refinery29, Rolling Stone and UNCUT, who called it “a springboard into '60s pop, '70s rock, and Noughties indie...It's an adventurous palette that suits her well.” The Nashville Scene said the album “...offers the kind of songwriting that can make a record feel truly timeless… anchored by floating piano and Johnson’s smooth, flawless vocals.”
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Celestial North’s luminary new single ‘The Nature Of Light’ was inspired by her studies as a Herbalist and by the concept of The Light Of Nature, which she describes as, ‘innate knowledge imbued within us all and accessed through intimate, synergistic and intuitive relationships within our natural kingdoms’. Surging with a pulsing life force of wonderful cosmic pop: woven with bubbling beats, sci-fi keys, fragments of arpeggio and imbued with a euphoric rush of dreamy melodies that invoke the spirit of pagan folklore and our connections with nature and inner hope. The song features her young daughter Iris Bluebell and was written to inspire her children to walk into an unknown future with courage and love in their hearts.
Following the success of the “wonderful space pop” (4 Songs and a dream Podcast) of her last release ‘When The Gods Dance’ — which received airplay and praise from the likes of Roddy Hart at BBC Radio Scotland, Jim Gellatly of Amazing Radio and various BBC Introducing Shows.
Hailing from Edinburgh, Scotland Celestial North is a talented, multi-faceted musician and songwriter with her songs regularly played on the BBC Introducing show. Her reworking of R.E.M.’s ‘Nightswimming’ - recorded for a God Is In the TV Zine charity album last year, received national radio play with BBC Scotland’s Roddy Hart proclaiming it “Majestic”. The release was included in Bandcamp’s Essential Releases with ‘Nightswimming’ chosen as the Editorial Director’s personal highpoint. Following a run of early singles Celestial North was touted by Under The Radar and God Is In The TV as 'One to watch in 2021' and one of the 'finest new acts for 2021', Celestial North is currently recording her debut album which will be released in September 2022.
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Outlaw country meets scrappy rock ‘n roll in Hippies and Cowboys’ “20 To Life” music video. The tongue-in-cheek video covers the explosive end of a relationship and the revenge the man takes on his ex-lover. Hippies and Cowboys "20 To Life" music video dropped this week.
The newest music video release from Hippies and Cowboys, “20 to Life”, gives the audience a unique and entertaining narrative to their new song. The music video sets the song’s theme by showing the end of a relationship, bringing low background voices of the girlfriend arguing and, later, images of her leaving, giving the video a strong start. Moreover, the first few shots give viewers more background and depth to the story, showing pictures of a simple house by the woods and lake, which perfectly contrasts the more heated images.
The video then continues showing the narrative made in the song, following the woman as she leaves the house and meets another man while the guy she left behind is drinking. The story continues with images of the men going after the woman who left him, prepared to kill her, and facing the consequences of “20 to life.” Those scenes are shown to the audience from many different angles, giving them different perspectives while watching and highlighting the different reactions people may have based on situations.
Furthermore, the music videos help convey the feeling of nostalgia by showing images of an old gas station, which makes an analogy to the nostalgia he felt after she left him.
Moreover, the images of the band used in between scenes add uniqueness to the video, as it gives the audience a different perspective of the song and helps convey the band’s personality.
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