There’s a particular kind of guilt that comes with doing nothing. Not the dramatic, existential kind — just the low hum of a to-do list you’ve quietly decided to ignore. I’ve been up on Sylt for the last couple of weeks, and I’ve gotten pretty good at ignoring it.
For those who don’t know it: Sylt is a North Frisian island up at the very top of Germany, where the North Sea does whatever it likes and the light in the late afternoon is almost unfairly beautiful. I come here to decompress. To squander time, as I like to think of it. It sounds worse than it is. It’s actually the best.
The weather these past few days has been spectacular — the kind that makes you feel vaguely obliged to document it. So I grabbed my iPhone and filmed a bit of what I was seeing. Dunes, mostly. Light on water. The usual suspects. Nothing dramatic, but it felt right.
I ended up pairing the footage with ‘What Was Lost In The Fire’, off The Sound My Mind Makes. I won’t pretend there’s a deep conceptual link between the images and the song — there isn’t, really. But sometimes you just need a video, and the landscape was right there. Think of it less as a proper music video and more as me taking a few polaroids while my Sony Walkman plays the album on my headphones. That’s the honest version.
While I had the camera out, I also shot a video for one of the tracks off Troubadour Sessions #1 — The Sound My Mind Makes, which is out digitally tomorrow, May 29th. Also filmed here on Sylt — same light, same dunes, same unhurried energy. I promise I’ll find a new location for the next one. Maybe somewhere with slightly less sand.
For those who haven’t come across it yet: Troubadour Sessions #1 is an acoustic reimagining of the album — just the songs, stripped back, with a bit more room to breathe. It feels like a natural companion piece. I’m fond of it.
I’m driving home next Tuesday. Until then, I’ll be here — doing nothing, filming the light, letting the to-do list wait.
Enjoy the videos. I hope they feel as unhurried as they were made.
D
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