‘Eat Your Heart Out is a songwriting masterclass for anyone who strives to make intelligent popular music.‘
The above is a quote from my review of the album which was released exclusively to Bandcamp on 9 October (full review here). Since that release a track from the album has been drip fed to streaming services every two weeks.
The Eat Your Heart Out album is Ed Seed collaborating with composer Tom Walker and filmmaker Phillip Osborne. While Tom Walker’s collaboration with Ed Seed was “almost all the strings, pianos and harps, and lots of the warped electronic treatments” the visuals have been created and edited by director of photography Philip Osborne, a man whose work “spans game cinematics, broadcast, independent film, music video, documentary and fine art.”
It starts with a totally black set with one rectangle of light into which we see Ed Seed step into, dressed as if he just stepped off a luxury yacht in the south of France. Osborne’s music video for the track Eat Your Heart Out is every bit as lush as the music. As if your ears weren’t getting enough of a treat, your eyes can feast on this sumptuous collage of images. The colour dial is set to fabulous with everything shot to look as edible as a Vermeer or a Van Gogh.
The edits are well-paced and the sections that use slow motion are in keeping with the flowing electronic waters and Tom Walker’s beautifully elongated strings. We see Ed Seed wandering through the world like a modern-day version of David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth; moving with no urgency and drinking in his surroundings. His face may be passive but his body is often animated and expressive whether it is dancing in the rectangle of light, striding through a pastoral landscape or the neon of the city. Seed might be a beautifully dressed alien assessing our world, or what we see could be the flash of images from the protagonist’s subconscious while he dances alone; I will leave you to make up your own mind.
Both Ed Seed and director Phillip Osborne would welcome your comments about the track and video, either on this page or via social media.
The artists have been kind enough to allow Joyzine to have the video exclusively until 9 November when the full stream of Eat Your Heart Out is available. You can sign up for new songs and videos here.
Ed Seed: Streaming | Website | Instagram | YouTube | ‘When I Was Cruel’ Instagram
Phillip Osborne: Website | Instagram | Contact | LinkedIn
Phillip Osborne has just finished an Artist in Residency at UWL for the Townshend Studio – a fully funded sound and music residency supported by Extended Play and Pete Townshend’s charity. This will have an EP as the creative output of that residency published. In addition, he is currently working on a ten minute short about PTSD.
Review by Paul F Cook
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