VIDEO PREMIERE | Starry Skies, "Glitter and the Glory"
Purveyors of baroque power pop — Starry Skies; press photo appears courtesy of the band.
Glasgow artist Warren McIntyre, aka Starry Skies has been busy creating the blueprint for a power pop odyssey titled Be Kind, presenting the world a debut look at the visualizer for "Glitter and the Glory". Produced by Belle and Sebastian's Stevie Jackson and mastered at the iconic Abbey Road Studios; McIntyre re-imagines the floral-folk jangle pop synonymous with the McGuinn/Clark/Crosby/Hillman canon resurrected as contemporary hymns for these modern times. The power pop fabrics ring true and alive in a style that feels younger than yesterday with a glimpses of hope exhibited through a lens of wisdom and caution.
The visuals for Starry Skies' "Glitter and the Glory" showcases time elapsed moving images of Glasgow like a living painting — courtesy of photographer Alasdair Macleod. From highland vistas, stretches of waterside, busy city streets, The SSE Hydro and views that span from hill to humble countryside; the courses of day and night run their natural gamut as Warren's introspective lyrics sing out within a rich arrangement. The passage of time is seen in conjunction with reflections on the futility of material things and all the arrivals and departures that are part of our collective existence. The luster and fancy of trivial things and matters are placed on the same plane as McIntyre holds tight to the certainty of the cycles of things that continuously spin like the iron spokes of a Ferris wheel that delivers the gamut of thrills, chills, fear, hope, dread and happiness (at different intervals and sometimes seemingly all at once). “Glitter and the Glory” is an earnest glance at the world that we know, the joys and disappointments displayed in equal measure as the endless life pursuit to quench that insatiable thirst for comfort, care, camaraderie and a connection that maybe means more than this (and something that is greater and beyond our comprehension of life’s schemes of things).
The grandeur and pop art glimmer of Starry Skies; press photo appears courtesy of the band.
Warren McIntyre from Starry Skies shared the following reflections on the making of the single:
“Glitter and the Glory” is a flow of conscious song about the constant demand for the new shiny thing, the nationwide thirst for success or fame and all the false faces that we see all around us in public life — especially politics. Almost a call to arms to kill the ego (or at least tell it to calm down a bit) and to give out more love instead!
It also reflects on a journey to Hamburg a few years ago where we parked the band van up on the Reeperbahn and ate on the sidewalk because we were so poor. It was an amazing trip though and maybe somehow from my unconscious a tiny little bit of the Beatles sound, who famously cut their teeth there, tripped its way into the song.