We’re excited to be able to bring you the video premiere of the new single and opening track from Australian-American singer-songwriter and poet Natalie D-Napoleon‘s brand new album You Wanted to Be the Shore but Instead You Were the Sea.

Just prior to her permanent return to Australia late last year, D-Napoleon, recorded her fourth solo album with one microphone in a one-hundred-year-old chapel nestled in the hills behind Santa Barbara. She was able to draw on some impressive musicians to bring her songs to life in the studio – James Connolly (Van Dyke Parks/Jeff Bridges) on bass, Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams/John Mayer) on guitar, pedal steel, and mandolin, and Dan Phillips on piano and percussion.

‘Thunder Rumor’ is a raw and emotional opening track which tackles the subject of domestic violence. D-Napoleon conveys both despair and resilience in her voice with stirring authenticity, over a restrained musical backdrop that’s punctuated and strengthened by Pettibone’s fine lead guitar.

The accompanying video, directed by Brett Leigh Dicks and starring Perth-based actress Nika Velebir, is a stirring metaphor of a woman summoning the strength to break free of an abusive relationship.