Doug Paisley’s music is always impressive but the video for ‘Sometimes It’s So Easy’ demonstrates that his guitar skills go to another level. It really is incredible to see Paisley playing his Gibson while effortlessly cycling no-hands on the Toronto Islands. There’s a real sense of freedom in the visual, an easy, breezy confidence that Paisley also brings to his assured songwriting. The song begins just with his voice, giving the feel of an intimate conversation. As always, his vocal is smoothly melodic, buoyed here by sweet backing vocals and a gorgeously warm, rhythmic bass guitar. Halfway through, a languid guitar solo is one of the song’s highlights.
Paisley says of the song and video: “This is the first time I’ve made a music video for one of my songs. I risked my body and my 1950 Gibson guitar for the stunt and in hindsight I guess it lines up with some of the recklessness in the song itself. The song is for the leaving kind and the left behind, at the moment when one can seem so cold and cruel and the other so wounded. In the end, to right themselves the price they pay in their own time is about equal. It makes me think of Bob Marley’s ‘Running Away’ although this song is less sure of having taken its own advice. I’m inspired by the intricacy in simple folk and country songwriting where a little irony can suspend a point or an idea without bringing it down too hard in any one place, like an X-wing in a dogfight. For that reason I hope I haven’t said very much here but if you’re in a situation where there’s blame and hurt then you know you still have a way to go, if you were fortunate enough to be there at all.”
The video’s director, Colin Medley, adds: “Doug told me that when he was a teenager he once biked from Mount Pleasant Cemetery all the way to the waterfront with no hands. I’m not sure I fully believed him, but when we showed up on the Toronto Islands to film this video, not only could he still effortlessly bike without touching his handlebars, he could do so while singing and playing guitar for take after take. It was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.”
‘Sometimes It’s So Easy’ is the second single from the Canadian songwriter’s forthcoming album ‘Say What You Like’, which is due on 17th March 2023. Fifteen years ago, Paisley’s self-titled 2009 debut introduced listeners to a his quietly reflective songs, blending folk and country in a warm, easy style. Each subsequent record has been an example of brilliant songcraft, most notably his 2010 release, ‘Constant Companion’, which is filled with outstanding, timeless songs. The new album delivers another set of gorgeously melodic songs.
