“When they put you in the ground / I didn’t make a sound / Just stood there watching the birds over the lake / And fumbling with a guitar pick in my pocket / It was quiet like I’ve never felt before / It was old friends waiting in cars with closed doors.”
Following the release of his latest EP back in August, Bayfield, ON singer-songwriter Josh Geddis is excited to share a beautifully intimate music video today for the title track, “The Quiet I Never Knew,” which we are delighted to premiere here at GDW. Captured in one uninterrupted take by videographer Danny Dunlop (The Cedar Sisters, The Stereo Division), this video features Geddis isolated in a cozy, wood-paneled room, with just himself and a pair of posters behind him illuminated solely by a vintage table lamp. But to those familiar with the artistic vision of Dunlop, such images may not always appear as they seem.
“Like windmills spinning out of time / ‘Til you blink to make them fine / It’s like humming out a foggy line / Cuz I was thinking about you and kinda forgot the rhyme / It was all that I could do to make you proud / Made a simple toast and then crashed down.”
Of course, the color tones of such imagery combine with the somber sound and lyrics to paint a moving and deeply personal picture of grief, of love, and of loss. “The song is about my brother-in-law who passed away from cancer a few years back now,” Josh shares. “He had a stem cell transplant and all was good, until it wasn’t.” Josh’s recollection of the events leading up to the death are articulated beautifully through his well-crafted prose; his poignant vocal delivery accentuated by his acoustic guitar, and some stunning, muted slide guitar courtesy of Christine Bougie (Bahamas). “The first couple verses are about his funeral,” Josh adds. “Then it flashes back to the last trip we took together, which was to a Beck concert at The Fox in Detroit.”
“We were walking down Michigan / Before you got so sick again / Banana belt moon was low / And we were laughing like you almost dodged a bullet oh / It was Beck and DJ Windows 98 / It was staying out until you said it’s late.”
Memories unfold through the narrative of the unexpected turn of events, and of a personal battle lost. “[The] Dr. J poster and tiger article in the background of the video are kick-backs to stuff my bro-in-law would have had in his room as a younger guy,” states Josh, touching on the personal elements that tie the visual to the audio. And at this time, Dunlop opts to gradually pan the camera out, the lens transitioning to a wide-angle image of an equally unexpected visual scenario. “I loved the decision that Danny made to shoot this video in one take,” Josh recalls. “I think we are very close at the beginning of the video. Almost uncomfortably close. To the point where it is a relief when the camera backs up a little bit. You start to realize what is around you, that room isn’t real, it is a set. Then you are in nature and it is dark.”
“Sitting in your old mans house at night / Just trying to get those moments right / The doors are all shut tight / But the ghost of you blows them open almost every night / The laughter stops and waits for a hello / But the only sound’s the blowing New Years snow / And it’s blowing / Like the quiet I never knew / The quiet I never knew.”
“The video for me is pretty unsettling … the song itself and the story that it tells are also pretty unsettling,” Josh admits. “There is a tension that exists in the video, of wanting to go back to the room, to pull back in closer, of wanting to stay in the comfort of not knowing what is out there. [But] it signifies a moving away from the memory. I think [Danny] was trying to paint a picture of what a true Quiet would look like in a music video – stopping the music and walking away. I don’t think I could ever imagine writing a more sad tune than this one, and stopping before the song is done, getting up, and walking out of the music video is something that doesn’t typically happen. I think it does a good job of capturing the idea of The Quiet I Never Knew.”
Photo Credit: Danny Dunlop
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
