Video Premiere: KaiL Baxley, “In Lieu Of”
With the climate collapsing at a record clip, a lot of people are reassessing their priorities in life. For some, it’s stockpiling arms with which to protect themselves from dangerous marauders. For others, it’s stockpiling arms in which to wrap themselves with eternal love. Rather like in the ship-sinking scene in Titanic, do you fight for a raft or lie with your mate in the last moments of life? It’s yet another spin on the classic lover or fighter question.
Singer/songwriter KaiL Baxley has been a fighter for a lot of his life, both literally and figuratively, having done some amateur boxing and some hard-scrabble surviving. Now, though, he tends to lean more easily into his lover side, at least in his music, as evidenced on his upcoming album, Beneath the Bones, which drops March 6 via AntiFragile Music.
The set kicks off with the apocalyptic romance that is “In Lieu Of.” In the song, Baxley imagines running from the end of the world to hide himself away with his partner after watching “the city burn from a fire escape.” For the video, his team brought the story to life with two women living in the desert, watching a nuclear devastation, and deciding to make a run. They are lovers who want to fight so that they may know more days of that love.
Visually, the slow-rolling, lush cinematography echoes the musical soundscape it represents even as it contrasts the barren landscape it captures. “We wanted this video to encapsulate the love between two people over a lifetime,” Baxley explains. “The apocalyptic backdrop driving the point that true love only becomes more vibrant in the toughest of times. It’s a poetic visual.”
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Beneath the Bones is due out on March 6 and available for pre-order at Apple Music and Amazon.
