Majical Cloudz - Childhood's End

The new video from Majical Cloudz is a dark affair. Shot entirely in black and white, it loosely tells the tale of an old man’s last days; unhappily cleaning up fag butts at work, trudging through snowy suburbia and preparing lonely soup for one. This is tried and tested subject matter, which could have almost been directly lifted from Bowie’s Rock’n Roll Suicide, but Emily Kai Bock’s tremendous direction assures that the action never feels stilted; one particularly beautiful shot involves light passing through the old man’s blinds, playing over his littered desk as he sketches an image of a young girl.

This sense of longing, loss and loneliness is matched by Devon Welsh’s plaintive lyrics; the song’s closing refrain “won’t someone come for me?” is sung without hope over deep, sweeping synthesisers, a cello and understated skittering kick drums, and is matched by the stark image of the old man lying in pain and confusion on snowy railway tracks. Kenneth Welsh – Devon’s father, who gained fame starring in Twin Peaks – portrays the old man admirably, lending a deeply personal edge to the song’s talk of innocence passing, and fathers dying. Majical Cloudz continues to evolve, and it’s easy to see a greater sense of care and professionalism creeping into his productions. For all the melancholy of ‘Childhood’s End’, the more mature feel of the track strongly hints at a welcome new direction for Welsh – maybe adulthood’s beginning.

Matador Records will release ‘Impersonator’ ont he 21st May 2013.