Last week, we learned about electro-acoustic artist Andy Sheppard's new multimedia project Find the Others. Just ahead of an upcoming tour to promote the project, which starts up this Saturday (October 22) in Halifax, Sheppard has unveiled one of the pieces, titled "Sons and Daughters."
The song plies gentle acoustic six-string strums with vibraphone plunks, brushed drums and snippets of dialogue, while the video showcases grainy, old black and white footage from the 1940 documentary The Children Must Learn, about a poverty-stricken family in the Appalachians. Shots jump from the family working the land to them solemnly eating around the dinner table.
"The original director, Willard Van Dyke meant well, but it's a bit patronizing to these people," Sheppard said of the "Sons and Daughters" video in a statement. "I remixed the audio, and recut the video to make 'Sons and Daughters.' It reminded me a bit of the people and places I knew growing up in tobacco country in southwestern Ontario (I went to school in a one-room schoolhouse, believe it or not). I knew kids who didn't have proper clothes or food. Anyway, it all seemed pretty familiar, despite the fact that the film was made 70 years ago."
You can check Find the Others' tour schedule here.
Find the Others' self-titled album is due out November 1.
The song plies gentle acoustic six-string strums with vibraphone plunks, brushed drums and snippets of dialogue, while the video showcases grainy, old black and white footage from the 1940 documentary The Children Must Learn, about a poverty-stricken family in the Appalachians. Shots jump from the family working the land to them solemnly eating around the dinner table.
"The original director, Willard Van Dyke meant well, but it's a bit patronizing to these people," Sheppard said of the "Sons and Daughters" video in a statement. "I remixed the audio, and recut the video to make 'Sons and Daughters.' It reminded me a bit of the people and places I knew growing up in tobacco country in southwestern Ontario (I went to school in a one-room schoolhouse, believe it or not). I knew kids who didn't have proper clothes or food. Anyway, it all seemed pretty familiar, despite the fact that the film was made 70 years ago."
You can check Find the Others' tour schedule here.
Find the Others' self-titled album is due out November 1.