Video Premiere: Jeffrey Dean Foster “I’m Starting to Bleed”

Here is the video premiere of Jeffrey Dean Foster’s latest single, a powerful reaction to the murder of George Floyd.  The watching world was shocked and gripped by this in the summer of 2020 and the subsequent Black Lives Matters protests inspired many artists, who responded with compelling music.  Foster’s song-writing skills ensure that his take on this important theme is carefully-crafted, subtle and sensitive.  Musically, ‘Starting to Bleed’ has an understated but insistent rhythm and tuneful bass, over which Foster delivers an aching, melodic vocal performance and atmospheric electric guitar. Foster’s lyrics capture the horrific nature of the events that unfolded with a creeping sense of dread: “America is always on top // Rolling over me // And it won’t stop // I’m locked up and lost // messed up and broke // My face on the concrete // And a knee on my throat // America is always on top // I feel your hand in mine // You’re just in time // Mama, I can’t breathe.”

The engrossing song is accompanied by an equally engaging visual, which features brief and uncomfortable excerpts of footage of the policing of the protests.  Such thought was put into the selection of imagery that it took almost a year to put the video together.  Foster says of the video, which was directed by Gigi Cone Welch and Jackie Spry, “I think we succeeded in making an especially American fever dream.”  ‘Starting to Bleed’ is the title track from Foster’s brand new EP, which is out now – five songs that reflect the isolation, upheaval and uncertain mood of the last couple of years.  Well worth checking out.