With “My Darkness”, Abbie Gardner Reflects on the Journey to Self-Acceptance (premiere)

Filmed all around Jersey City, Abbie Gardner openly bares her darker emotions in the touching new music video for her single, “My Darkness”. Perhaps better known for her abilities behind the slide guitar with Americana band Red Molly, Gardner stretches her wings as a soloist just as well. Solely featuring dobro-centric instrumentation beside her vocals, the straight-shooting nature of the song’s arrangement allows it to soar in the more intimate sense. It’s a song about her own emotions and experiences that, coincidentally, all of us can well relate to–a hymn of self-acceptance, especially for when times have been uncertain.

Directed by Michael Croce, the video shifts between shots of a reflective Gardner performing the song throughout New Jersey and a conversation between herself and personifications of her emotions. Despite the fantastical elements at play, the video does exceedingly well in conveying the raw and real ruminations at play through the song and its plaintive arrangement while bringing these more literal interpretations of these emotions to the forefront. Throughout, Croce captures the beauty of New Jersey’s urban and natural expanse alike, masterfully shifting between them and the more theatrical based on metaphorical, lyrical cues.

On the song and video, Gardner says, “This song is about dealing with the darker emotions inside us. I wanted the music to match that intimacy, so we recorded a special stripped-down live version with only vocals and dobro, just for the video. Each verse personifies a different emotion, all played by fellow Jersey City musician, Walter Parks.”