John Southworth – “Ode To The Morning Sky” Video (Stereogum Premiere)

A quick Google investigation reveals John Southworth to be the name of a seventeenth-century Catholic martyr and Idaho-based drug rehab specialist. The John Southworth we’re concerned with, though, is a Dylanesque chamber-pop talent born in the UK and based in Toronto. Later this month Southworth will release Niagara, a double-LP with one nine-song Canadian disc and one 11-song American disc delineated according to Southworth’s idea of what constitutes each nation’s respective musical style. “Ode To The Morning Sky,” the song Southworth unveils today by way of a video featuring a wandering retro football player, is from the album’s Canadian half. Directed by Southworth himself, its musical component is a bit of gracefully soaring old-school folk-pop in the vein of a more weathered James Taylor. I could easily imagine as the theme music from some halcyon TV series. Find “Ode To The Morning Sky” below along with the video for previous single “Hey I Got News For You,” which reminds me of Dylan fronting Spoon and is of course from the American disc.