It's a mere few weeks before Joshua Burnside releases his second studio album, Into The Depths of Hell. With four single releases peppered across the long months of the pandemic, Burnside’s particular brooding brand of experimental folk seems almost too apropos of the time.
Increasingly frenetic and apocalyptic as the months have progressed, ‘War on Everything’ appears to be the explosion of rage at the end of a long tunnel. Marked by tumultuous energy and lacking in any kind of resolution, he scatters references to Dylan and Van Morrison among the off-kilter percussion and lilting strings.
Fusing elements of noise rock with his signature Celtic influence, Burnside – who produced the song alongside Caolan Austin – takes an unwavering microscope to himself, examining elements of self-sabotage, social carelessness and personal failure.
That rage is depicted in the video by dancers Emily McDonagh and Ryan O’Neill. Every bit as electrifying and magnetic as the song itself, the couple are backlit by street lamps as they walk home from a party, all limbs, throwing themselves at and away from one another, before eventually collapsing in a heap in the street. Directed by David Moody, the video is one of Burnside’s most cinematic to date.
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