Man Gordan has shared a new music video for his emotional song “Today, Downtown.” Although the singer/songwriter has released a number of singles this year, including “Say We Do” and “Away Again,” as well as a poignant cover of “First Day of My Life,” this marks his first music video in recent years. The result is a moving film that captures both sublime tenderness and compelling candor that defines his music.
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Influenced deeply by Bright Eyes‘ poetic eloquence and vulnerability, Bon Iver, and Sigur Ros — Man Gordan possesses a voice that effortlessly communicates life’s capacity for both great joy and pain. He first started writing music as a means of coping with health issues over a two-year period, creating hundreds of songs that uncovered his natural inclination toward bare-bones and earnest songwriting.
“Today, Downtown” — which was first released last year — looks back on the time he spent traveling with somber retrospection. Giving voice to his attempts to reckon with life’s capacity for love and loss, hope and failure, the single ruminates over the purpose of the cycles of happiness and sorrow that we experience in the course of our lives.
“Sway (with me, oh won’t you sway) / Smile as the moment slips away,” he sings alongside a lilting acoustic melody that swells toward soaring alt-rock. “We’re not here to stay / (with me oh won’t you stay).”
The song moves through life’s landmark moments with a swift and somewhat frightening briskness as Man Gordan struggles to accept that their fleeting nature doesn’t make them meaningless.
The music video for “Today, Downtown” follows him as he performs the song against a rustic rural backdrop. He’s joined by Riley Pufahl who harmonizes with him as the two sit atop the rocky shore of a flowing river beneath a bridge. With his guitar on his back, the film pairs pensive shots of Man Gordan wandering through verdant forest paths, meandering listlessly between the song’s powerful chorus.
Gordan said of the single: “I wrote this song while traveling. I was going from place to place, and while having fun and making connections, I felt empty. I thought about how all of life’s experiences come and go so quickly and wondered what the point of it was. A friend noted how much I had grown and how all of life’s experiences leave an impression on your soul. He shared a quote that stuck with me: ‘The point of life is to live.'”
Visit Man Gordan on Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Words: Steven Ward
Watch the music video for “Today, Downtown” from Man Gordan below!
