In June, London's Naima Bock announced her follow-up to 2022's Giant Palm. Titled Below A Massive Dark Land, the new project has two lead singles, "Kaley" and "Further Away," and now we're getting another album preview called "Gentle," which comes with a video directed by Ellie Wintour and Sophie Lincoln.
"I’ve lived with this song for a couple of years," Bock says of "Gentle" and its video. "It’s a kind of copy and paste of different sections of my life, each verse is a different version of myself or situation I was in. None of them link in reality, but they fit together in this song, which leaves me with a sense of union and satisfaction. I would like to allow for the listener to take the lyrics in whatever way is relevant to them. I can say it's my favourite song to play and one of my favourite songs that I’ve written. It means a lot to me."
Its directors add:
Our jumping off point for the video began with the lyrics ‘You want me to be gentle, fragile, you want me to stay young. I pray that I stay gentle, fragile, I pray that I stay.’ We developed Naima a character playing on femininity as facade, but also her sense of easygoing style. In using two-dimensional substitutes for three-dimensional objects – mixing worlds of the real and make-believe – we tried to play on the song’s themes of expectation, assigned roles, and conformity.
Watch and listen to "Gentle" below.
TOUR DATES:
08/15 - St. Malo, FR @ La Route Du Rock +
08/22 - Los Angeles, CA @ Barnsdall Gallery Theatre ^
08/23 - Los Angeles, CA @ TBA
08/24 - Ojai, CA @ Greater Goods
09/05 - Arcata, CA @ The Miniplex
09/09 - Portland, OR @ Music Millennium (instore)
09/13 - Walla Walla, WA @ Billsville West
09/15 - Seattle, WA @ The Rabbit Box
10/21 - Boston, MA @ Warehouse X1
10/23 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church Side Chapel
10/25 - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
10/26 - Washington, DC @ Rhizome
11/06 - London, UK @ St. Pancras Old Church +
11/07 - Bristol, UK @ Jam Jar *
11/08 - Liverpool, UK @ Leaf *
11/09 - Newcastle, UK @ Cumberland Arms *
11/10 - Glasgow, UK @ McChuills *
11/12 - Leeds, UK @ Hyde Park Book Club *
11/13 - Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute *
11/14 - Cambridge, UK @ Storey’s Field Centre *
11/16 - Falmouth, UK @ The Cornish Bank *
11/17 - Frome, UK @ The Tree House *
11/18 - Exeter, UK @ Cavern Club *
11/20 - Ipswich, UK @ St Stephens Church *
11/21 - London, UK @ The Ivy House *
12/03 - Lille, FR @ L 'Aéronef *
12/04 - Brugge, BE @ Cactus Café *
12/06 - Haldern, DE @ Pop Bar *
12/07 - Hamburg, DE @ Nachstasyl *
12/08 - Berlin, DE @ Neu Zunkunft *
12/10 - Cologne, DE @ Subway *
12/11 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso *
12/12 - Brussels, BE @Botanique *
12/13 - Paris, FR @ La Boule Noire *
^ Supporting Angelo De Augustine
* Full band show
+ Duo with Oliver Hamilton
Below A Massive Dark Land is out 9/27 via Sub Pop.
