Ryan Vail - “Wounds” Video

Irish musician and composer Ryan Vail combines modern classical music and electronic sonics for a sound all his own. After a few stellar, smaller EPs he’s ready to offer his full-length For Every Silence this spring. The first single, “Wounds” is highly conceptual, blending classical and electro in a more direct and unexpected way than the intertwined zooming synths and grand piano chords. The song is about a piano’s journey from England to Ireland 89 years ago, the same piano Vail uses throughout his album. Here’s Vail on the song’s concept:

The track is about a piano who wants to be played but is ignored in his own room, the previous owner was a radio enthusiast so this explains the radio sample. It’s one of the most electronic tracks on the album.

Michael Barwise’s clip departs from the song’s inspiration, developing a silent narrative between a couple. The images are a great play of light and shadow using only natural and reflected light from a compact mirror to highlight interactions and communicative facial expressions. The already penetrating refrain “Over time it’s clear to me/ All I need is love to heal my wounds” is given much more gravity as the man in the couple sits alone, lost in nostalgia and good times past, while twirling the compact mirror around. The clip is a great incongruous spin on the song.