VIDEO PREMIERE: Darling James – ‘Born In The Blitz’

The latest music from Melbourne’s Darling James sees him adopt a persona that’s been in development over the past few months via Instagram.

“I call him Ace Statesman and he’s the quintessential ‘80s/‘90s businessman,” the intelligent pop maestro said of the character featured in the clip for Born In The Blitz, premiering via The Music.

“He’s kind of a blend of my father, Paul Keating, a character from a David Williams play and David Byrne from Talking Heads circa 1984,” he added. 

“In the clip Ace Statesman is completely passive and disconnected from the environment around him. He’s invisible to the other cast members and doesn’t seem to notice or care about them either. 

“We see him in a series of domestic vignettes that slowly get more chaotic and intense. It shows the protagonist as being stubbornly detached, but it also demonstrates how powerless we are in so many areas of our lives even when we’d like to think otherwise. 

“We don’t choose our families, our genes, our country of birth, even most of our strengths and weaknesses. This should make use more humble, but for many of us it inspires the most ill-fated attempts to control everything! 

“The clip was directed by Nayomi Pattuwage, a fantastic filmmaker based on the Mornington Peninsula who is also a fantastic musician, which made the whole process very easy.”

On the song itself, which is a natural evolution from Darling James’ MOOD EYES and Theory Of Mind EPs, the singer-songwriter noted: “Born In The Blitz was written about my father, who passed away ten years ago. Like many people I had a complex relationship with my dad and at the bottom of it has always been my desire to know him better. Having said that he loved a good chat and told the most amazing stories. 

“One of my favourites was about how his family home in London was hit by a German V1 Flying Bomb during World War II when he was an infant. He and his mother, who was knocked unconscious, were only found because he was crying under the rubble. 

“He moved to Australia in the ‘70s to seek his fortune. There was always this incredible drive and self-belief in him but it came at some cost to himself and others. I don’t even he could live up to his own standards. Born In The Blitz kind of explores all this.”

Keep up to date with Darling James here.