There has always been a persistent darkness to Nikki Speake’s gothic songwriting. I’m not sure what exactly to call it, but it’s best described as an air of the macabre tinged with melancholy. Her latest single with the Phantom Callers maintains that brooding atmosphere as dreamy guitars and rollicking drums stutter and strut with bluesy swagger. The centerpiece, of course, are Speake’s stirring world-weary vocals, which delve into issues of mental health and overcoming systematic shame and repression.
Directed, shot, and edited by Video Rahim and produced by Ashley Simpson, the video forgoes the raucous revelry usually found in Visualuxury productions in favor of allegorical storytelling. The clip opens with Speake washed up on the side of a river with an angel watching over her. Whether or not the angel is real or a figment of Speake’s addled mindstate is matter of interpretation, and it’s this division between the material and the mystical that drives much of the action forward. All told, it’s a spellbinding affair that helps draw the viewer into the song’s poignant message.
“This is one of the harder songs for me to talk about, in terms of its inspiration and meaning, because it’s definitely not a happy song,” Speake recently told Wide Open Country, who premiered the video. “For me, this a multi-layered theme about learning to cope with chronic depression and attempting to break out of the stigma and shame associated with mental health issues. It seems that when I was younger, depression was such a dirty word that you couldn’t even admit it to your own doctor if he or she suggested it. You were seen as weak, selfish or indulgent in the face of so many others in the world less fortunate than you, which only furthers the feelings of guilt and shame. It’s also no secret that women tend to have higher rates of depression, and we are many times overtaken by the chemicals in our brains and bodies. I think it’s refreshing that more and more people are vocal about managing their mental health, and with more affordable and easily accessible education online, it’s a lot less isolating.”
Watch/listen above.
Nikki & the Phantom Callers debut full length, Everybody’s Going to Hell (But You and Me), is out Apr. 3.
More Info
Web: nikkiandthephantomcallers.com
Bandcamp: nikkispeake.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @NikkiandthePhant0mCallers
Instagram: @nikkiandthephantomcallers