Video: Jim Ghedi “Wasteland”

The stunning video for “Wasteland” by Jim Ghedi is beautifully bleak.  Director, editor and cinematographer Jordan Carroll has infused the visual with so much drama and atmosphere, perfectly fitting for a timeless song like this.  Carroll says: “The idea was initially inspired by the album artwork featuring Jim sitting in a quarry, dressed in a 17th-century gentry outfit. We asked ourselves: why is this character there, asleep on a stool? There was something fantastical about it, so we filled in the blanks and built a story around it.”  It’s an inventive piece of art in its own right.

Then, there’s the song itself, an original composition from the Sheffield folk singer.  Ghedi has created an intense and brooding song that swells as the instrumental layers entwine, a gorgeous soundscape, growing towards a powerful climax.  Neal Heppleston’s bass and Joe Danks’ percussion provide the foundation for Ghedi’s ethereal voice, rising up and soaring while Ghedi’s guitar and strings from David Grubb and Daniel Bridgwood-Hill swirl around Dean Honer’s synths.  The sound is ambitious and the impact is rich and full.  Ghedi says of the approach: “The lyrical content needed something more band-driven and loud to deliver them.  Incorporating the electric guitar in my songwriting was also a big part of opening the sound up, using drop tunings pushed me to use my voice in a wider range, which forced me to use falsetto a lot which I haven’t previously done before. That then opened the sound up and gave me creative ideas for bigger arrangements and to sonically really push things.”  There’s real poetry to the lyrics and Ghedi’s images.

This is the title track from Ghedi’s forthcoming new album, which is due on 21st February 2025.  He explains: “‘Wasteland’ is about the idea of a place once known or familiar that is now broken down and unrecognisable.  It’s about exploring the process of watching someone’s surroundings and environment collapse.  It also explores death, personal loss, grief, mental health and how the natural world provides solace and meaning for that loss and how these worlds blur into one another.”  These themes are as intense as the musical experience and the album promises to be an early highlight of the new year.  Pre-order the album here.