Award-winning Halifax indie-rockers Hillsburn haven’t slowed down at all. Their sophomore album The Wilder Beyond has yielded more plausible singles than any sophomore album has a right to. And their newest release is no exception to their steady stream of upbeat, mood-lifting tracks.
Singer/songwriter Paul Aarntzen returns to direct the band’s new video for their song “Young Desire.” The video follows a woman who is apparently an older version of lead singer Rosanna Burrill and who breaks into her old high school. She is overcome with memories of days when she was younger and resurfaces her young desire in the school’s gymnasium, where she vividly imagines a school dance from the year 1986. Complete with temporal distortions and a flash mob-style dance party freeze-frame, the video carries the same upbeat feeling that the song does.
But while the video tells one tale, the song itself tells another; it was written as the story of two LGBTQ kids’ first love. Lyrics “and people said ‘now buck up kid,’ you’re too young you love too quick,” express some of the struggles these two kids probably went through first declaring their love for each other to those around them, and lyrics “walking alone home today, out of the corner, swear she’s there. And stars don’t fall anymore for me, or not in a way that compares,” describes the way that our first love is so strong and tends to linger long into our adult lives—possibly even forever.
“I wanted to undercut a little bit the idea that young love is innocent, light, easy,” says singer/guitarist and songwriter Paul Aarntzen. “It can affect you forever. How people react to you when you first express outwardly your feelings of love can shape you and how you move through the world for the rest of your life.”
Tour Dates:
04.05 – Truro, NS @ The Marigold
04.06 – Charlottetown, PEI @ Confederation Centre
04.07 – Saint John, NB @ The Sanctuary
04.08 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
04.09 – Ottawa, ON @ LIVE on Elgin
04.11 – Ingersoll, ON @ Stonecroft Folk
04.12 – Toronto, ON @ The Rivoli
04.14 – Thunder Bay, ON @ The Foundry
04.18 – Winnipeg, MB @ The Park Theatre
04.19 – Morden, MB @ The Legion
04.20 – Regina, SK @ Revival Music Room
04.21 – Saskatoon, SK @ Village Guitar & Amp Co.
04.24 – La Ronge, SK @ Churchill Community High School
04.26 – Kindersley, SK @ Norman Ritchie Community Centre
04.27 – Assiniboia, SK @ Prince of Wales Cultural & Recreation Centre
04.28 – Langenburg, SK @ George Layh Theatre
04.29 – Swift Current, SK @ Lyric Theatre
05.03 – Kingston, ON @ The Mansion
05.05 – Cobourg, ON @ The Loft
05.12 – Wrexham, UK @ FOCUS Wales, Tŷ Pawb
05.18 – Brighton, UK @ The Great Escape, Green Door Store
05.18 – Brighton, UK @ The Great Escape, Sticky Mike’s
05.26 – Halifax, NS @ The Marquee
06.02 – Fredericton, NB @ The Capital