The track goes hand in hand with the singer's recent film project.
Australian singer-songwriter and one-fifth of Melbourne’s Skipping Girl Vinegar, Mark Lang has revealed the accompanying film clip for his lush new solo track ‘Pictou Landing’. The track goes hand in hand with his recent film project on the Canadian pulp mill which has devastated the Boat Harbour region of Pictou County.
The dreamy track pitches silky harmonies alongside a subdued melody, though the song is anchored by deep themes relating to the environmental crisis it details. Gently strummed strings and soft keys guide Lang’s lyrics, helping ‘Pictou Landing’ to remain buoyant despite the weight of his words.
The opening moments of the video clip see an almost hypnotic pattern unfolding onscreen, though as the camera retreats we realise we’re witnessing a pristine body of water being polluted; brown swirls interrupting the crystalline blue.
As Lang’s sweeping croons fill the listener’s ear, a visual story unfolds – telling the tale of how the treatment facility ravaged the aquatic life of Boat Harbour after the First Nations people were promised the mill would have no environmental impact. There is an aching in Lang’s voice as the song builds, “Mother I heard the calls/Of waterbirds weeping/Weeping for the harbour’s song“, he sings.
While ‘Pictou Landing’ is rooted in despair, there is an air of hope that together we can call for the closure of the mill and restore the harbour to its former state.
Check out the film clip for ‘Pictou Landing’ below.
