When we found out we had a couple days off in Philadelphia, we immediately contacted our pal, Alyssa Pearson, to let her know we were coming through. She'd been working on a few films lately, and we'd been sending along unmastered files of our now released album, We Made Ourselves a Home When We Didn't Know, to use however she saw fit with whatever project she saw fit. We clearly trust Alyssa quite a bit. And we clearly feel pretty honored any time she does choose this little folk band to help narrate her projects.
So when Alyssa suggested that we create a music video specifically for us, we said yes. We didn't ask when or how or where or what-- which is very unlike this little control freak duo. We didn't even send over suggestions. We just showed up at Alyssa's apartment, got showered and dressed, let her pour us some whiskey, and walked down to the bar at the corner. From there, she started filming and continued pouring, and we sang along to our sad ballad, getting mopier by the sip. When she called it a wrap, we obediently followed her back to her apartment, watched her set aside her camera, and said almost nothing else about it.
So when we received this cut almost a year later, it was revived from a foggy, distant memory of a late afternoon, punctuated by the creative freedom of a pal who is not only talented at filming, but at telling a new story from an old one we thought we'd buried once the record was released.
This music video for "Better for You" is intersected with the short film also directed by Alyssa, "Feeling Fleeting," and a few cans of footage she tracked down in the dark corners of the internet. We wish we could take more credit, but we are beyond excited that our raging emotional country ballad shook out this brooding, near psychedelic (in a folky sorta way) music video. You can take a watch and listen below.