Video: Ashley Shadow “Don’t Slow Me Down” Feat. Bonnie “Prince” Billy

Photo credit: Ryan Beattie

Here is a dreamily gentle, melodic beauty of a song from Ashley Shadow AKA Ashley Webber.  It’s an achingly sad ballad, full of loss and yearning: “Does he search my name does he ever think about // All the troubles and pain if he hasn’t by now…”  Having provided backing vocals on Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s 2018 album ‘Lie Down in Light’, Shadow invited the popular singer-songwriter to collaborate on this single.  Indeed, the combination of their vocals is a tuneful delight.  Alongside this, the haunting pedal steel is like an additional voice.

Shadow says of the video: “Since we had trouble connecting in the flesh with Will Oldham we decided to get creative with our approach to this video. I asked Will to send some footage to the song with little direction and said to get as weird as he wanted with it, he’s a professional.  When Will’s footage arrived Tyler McLeod and I were pumped up and the gears started turning. The creative juices were flowing and it all unfolded a wave of cosmic vibrations. Through analog effects and nostalgic references the video took on its own life and we succumbed to the creative forces of multi-dimensional techniques. Thus a video was born.”  Directed by Tyler McLeod, the video has the feel of an old television set and the accompanying difficulty in tuning it in; this is really effective in creating a sense of disconnection and separation, which reinforces the song’s sombre resignation and nostalgia, summarised in the Shadow’s lines, sung solo: “Now moving away and settling down // Feeling a calm from time going round // Seeing your life twenty years from now.”

‘Don’t Slow Me Down’ is the standout song from the Vancouver singer-songwriter’s recently released second album ‘Only the End’.  Emotional, heart-breaking stuff.  Check it out.

About Andrew Frolish 1277 Articles
From up north but now hiding in rural Suffolk. An insomniac music-lover. Love discovering new music to get lost in - country, singer-songwriters, Americana, rock...whatever. Currently enjoying Nils Lofgren, Ferris & Sylvester, Tommy Prine, Jarrod Dickenson, William Prince, Frank Turner, Our Man in the Field...

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