‘Walk a Little Farther’ is the latest single from Annie Bacon, a song that is finely crafted and full of atmosphere. Bacon’s vocal performance is particularly effective; her weariness and hurt are evident in her voice as she delivers a beautiful melody. Her words take us on a journey through a difficult period in Bacon’s life, a time of heartbreak, as she explains: “I would go for long walks. I knew that if I stopped, my grief was going to overwhelm me. I musically wanted to capture that feeling. I got into this habit of: walk, home, shower (let it burn), say a prayer, write a song. We shot the video near the Huron River in Ann Arbor, where I’d take my walks. I wanted to get the feel of the dreamscape and sadness I was feeling at the time. Grief doesn’t stop. It happens in the daytime. It happens all the time. My walk felt never-ending, like I just had to keep going.” It’s aching, heartfelt songwriting. Towards the end, Bacon urges the listener on, offering encouragement for a fresh start: “Walk a little farther // start again.”
Bacon told AUK about creating the video with her son: “Making this video with my kid was literally a dream come true. As a musician parent, I’ve worked hard not to push anything creatively on him. He’s grown up around music, been to hundreds of shows, and run merch for me. He’s fallen asleep to band practice, or sung along in the living room more times than I can count. But in terms of actually making something together, I’ve just tried to be really hands-off and let him lead. Earlier this year he had to come to a show he wouldn’t have normally come to, and as a 12 year old, isn’t much interested in sad songs these days. So, I hired him (10% of my door take) to do some content creation for me. I thought that it would at least keep him occupied and I’d have some videos to study to improve my performances. Turns out, he’s got an amazing eye for photography and video! He was setting up shots, looking for the right light, directing my facial expressions, and editing the photos on the spot. He doesn’t have access to a camera. No cellphone. So this was just out of the blue. A couple weeks later he was asking for ways to earn some money to buy his first PC. I said I’d hire him to help me make a video and this is what came of it. He did all the long shots, and had complete creative control over those. Collaborating with someone can be agonisingly bad, or it can be almost holy. It was the latter for me with him. I just cannot get over that I made this human being in my body. And now, here he is in the world, seeing it with a discerning eye and developing his own creative aesthetic and passion. It’s so humbling and awe-inspiring. And despite currently-hating my music, he knows all my lyrics and really gets my music. So, it was no stretch for him to understand what the feel of the video had to be. He had amazing ideas, and we could only get some of them down given resource-constraints. This video will forever be my favourite thing because it’s the first thing he and I made together.” This was clearly a magical experience and the resulting visual reinforces the key messages in Bacon’s lyrics.
‘Walk a Little Farther’ is on Bacon’s fourth album, ‘Storm’, due for release on 14th June 2024. Throughout these songs, Bacon exposes her vulnerabilities, confronting heartbreak, grief, loss and identity as she draws us into intimate reflections on difficult personal experiences. This is mature, sophisticated songwriting, music and feeling to lose yourself in. Be absorbed.
