Colemine Records’ Pale Jay has his new album Bewilderment slated for release in August and new single In Your Corner is lifted from it. It says here on the PR that it’s, ‘Afrobeat inspired,’ though frankly, what with Jay’s falsetto and and the keys it sounds much more like a funky slice of lowrider soul such as you might hear from Bobby Oroza. The PR also points out that while it’s musically rather uplifting, “the lyrics lay bare the internal struggle for self-acceptance,” and the song explores the push and pull between self-love…[phrasing!]…and self-judgement.” Naturally this calls for nuanced and subtle audio-visual direction for the video. Cue Jay walk-dancing down a deserted road along the ridgeline of a hill. That’ll be symbolism then – the two sides of the hill – as for the white clothing and the red balaclava – who knows? Just before the end, a pair of female hikers walk past and get a wave from Jay – possibly a freakier experience for them than he realised given that he was dressed like a cricket umpire who looks like he’d just been Tango-ed.
(Out now on Colemine Records)