Said the Whale – “I Will Follow You” (video) (premiere)

Said the Whale prove that love songs can be sincere without being cloying or desperately earnest with “I Will Follow You”, the new single from the band’s most recent effort, As Long As Your Eyes Are Wide. With verses built on declarations that find the intersection of hope and fear (while siding firmly with the former) and choruses meant to be sung with loud voices and deep enthusiasm, the song demonstrates the trio’s knack for writing pop songs that surprise even while expressing the familiar. Familiarity, the Vancouver-based trio reminds us, doesn’t have to be cliché.

“This video concept has been done a thousand times by a thousand different bands: You collect footage from one of your best shows ever,” Said the Whale offered in a recent statement, “combine it with light-hearted clips from the road, and voila, you have a music video. It’s a formula that bands keep coming back to not only because it’s fun for viewers to re-live a great concert and see cheerful ‘on the road’ footage, but also it’s a reminder of the fact that a band exists in its purest form when touring and performing live.”

The clips captured here are from a Said the Whale hometown gig, though it’s apparent that the group feels the same about performing virtually anywhere. The members added, “There are few greater feelings than seeing a crowd sing along to words we wrote in our bedrooms, and while being in an independent band can be treacherous at times, we do not take it for granted. A video like this is as much a piece of encouragement to us as it is an entertaining video for our supporters to watch.”