Video Premiere: Eliza Gilkyson, "Sunflowers"

“I was commissioned by the Grammy-award winning choirmaster, Craig Hella Johnson, to write a song for his Conspirare Choir. This is what came of that request — a list of all the things that sentient humans wish for in a war-torn environment: children playing, weddings, growing food, enough time to experience the simple pleasures of living…and fields of sunflowers.”

That’s what Eliza Gilkyson writes about the song “Sunflowers,” a stand out track on her new album, Home. With a gentle guitar that sets an almost meditative rhythm, the song encourages us to lean in and pay attention to the simple wishes Gilkyson delivers in her lovely voice. The chorus arrives like the sun after a heavy rain, opening up a world of hope and possibility.

The beautiful video uses vibrant colors and a light versus dark contrast to accompany the messages of “simple gifts of kindness” and “the blessing of more time”; it’s especially poignant to note the blue and yellow color variants that show up repeatedly throughout the video, a reminder that this is “a song for the mothers in Ukraine.” The intentional message is timely and topical, and the song serves to remind us that while many of us might be lucky enough to have a life that feels safe, a life that feels valuable, and a life that feels like it’s worth something, not everyone has that privilege.

“Initially Craig had wanted me to write something loosely based in the Beethoven Quartets in A minor, which was way outside my wheelhouse! But after a few listens I found that the First Movement had a chord progression in it that got me started down the trail of a song, although of course with me everything turns into a folk song sooner or later :).

And, as we now find ourselves debating whether the USA should fund protections for the sovereignty of a nation cruelly and illegally invaded, this song needed to be directed in a show of hope, solidarity and empathy for the Ukrainian people and the nightmare they are having to endure.”

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Directed by Ineke Goes
Video Art Production Ineke Goes
Produced by Don Richmond and Eliza Gilkyson

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Home is available HERE