Sydney songwriter Iain T. McKelvey has released a new solo single ‘Writer’s Lament‘ on Evening Records and we’re very pleased to premiere the video clip today.

Combining footage of McKelvey and the beautiful cosmic illustrated animations of Bec O’Brien (AKA Darby) that were hand drawn, frame by frame, the clip taps in to the metamorphosis that comes from a personal journey of love and loss.

McKelvey’s song is framed in a soulful folkiness but not of the fey and fragile kind. Instead there’s a resilience and knottiness to it. Part post-rock and dark alt-country, it possesses wistful, spacious elements where guitar chords chimes and sway, hanging in the air like poignant memories. In some ways it reminds me of songwriters such as Jason Molina, Bill Callahan and Vic Chesnutt in its heartfelt, yet slightly desolate beauty.

As McKelvey explains, the song is “a personal reflection on lost love, disappearing youth and learning to live with a life on the outside, the song was plucked from the memories of a songbook dating back seven years. Like a lost love, we reconnected, and found its message still poignant, relevant and moving.”