Matthew O’Neill – “Gates” (video) (premiere)

In 2017, Matthew O’Neill made a statement with the release of Trophic Cascade. The four-track EP set the artist on the map as an innovator and environmentalist. With it, he produced a record of psychedelic folk-rock with sales that would go on to support “front-line earth protect groups, with a focus on indigenous rights and conservation”.

On “Gates”, the singer-songwriter moves forward to expand those same psychedelic horizons that he paved the way for last year. The steady, swaying consistency of the track makes for a nearly hypnotic listening experience. Its accompanying music video, meanwhile, attunes itself well to O’Neill’s affinity for the natural world. It was shot near his home in Phoenicia, New York, as well as at the Great Valley wetlands between the Ulster and Green counties in New York’s Hudson Valley.

On the song and video, O’Neill says, “Hurt people hurt people. This songs speaks to the stronger powers of self respect and healing.”