Nathan Gill and Andrew Murray, both members of Prince Edward Island’s Two Hours Traffic and English Words, are living in a self-imposed exile. With a dissolution of bands and breakups, the two found themselves living in Toronto. It’s an unusual sort of place to look for miracles, unless they’re coming directly from the scripture, according to Drake or the Gospel of Neil Gaiman. But there, bathed in the warm glow of the string lights gracing Gill’s living-room, Baby God was born.
In anticipation of their first album, Baby God duo, in their wisdom, have blessed us with the release of a double-sided video featuring two short songs: ‘Down Then Up’ and ‘Marigold’.
Shot and edited by Chris Robinson in Toronto’s High Park, the video guides us on a vision quest, passing through multiple planes of existence, each out of phase with the next but similarly working towards the same goals. We may wander, but the outcome of our passage is an inevitable one.
‘Down Then Up’ represents a sense of dissatisfaction and longing, a futility of pursuit, and the constant march of time. It is the unattainable happiness which can only be reached as a matter of perspective; it is the expectation that the grass really is greener on the other side.
‘Marigold’ brings to mind the German concept of Spannungsbogen: the arcing of the bow. It is the purposeful delaying of pleasure, but with more frustration. The marigold is pressed inside of a book he has yet to read; It is forever entwined in a story that has been set aside for another time to which there will be an eager return.
The two songs and the accompanying video give the impression of being left out of sync, no matter how cheery. Lyrically, they’re a reminder that duty and obligation and the grand inconvenience of the universe all have little regard for our wishes.
The collaboration will be yielding their debut self-titled album later this week on December 22nd, 2017. In the meantime, several tracks have snuck out via the band’s bandcamp page.