Every single in the lead up to the May 13th release of Kevin Morby’s This Is A Photograph has been nothing short of stellar Americana. From the epic title track, to the tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating triumph of “Rock Bottom,” Morby is slowly peeling back the layers of himself to analyze mortality, life, and living. Now with “A Random Act Of Kindness,” the Kansas City-native presents a sweeping tune that he says is “a sonic rocket ship that shoots you out into outer space.”
In the video, Morby taps at a telephone dial pad as if it were a keyboard playing a hymnal, as he sings, “Sun came up, through my hands. Sun came up, with no plan. Sun came up… strike up the band,” before the drums come in and the tune unfolds. The lyrics and melody are strikingly reminiscent to those of “Tin Can,” off of Morby’s 2017 breakthrough album, City Music, and it feels like we’re witnessing nothing short of a peaking songwriter’s linear yarn.
“I set out to write a song where each line could be interpreted in two completely different ways,” Morby said of the song in a statement. “For example; when I sing the words ‘out of trust…’ it could be heard as either I have lost my sense of trust in something or that I am committing an act with trust as my motive. It’s a song about the menacing nature of the sun rising during a dark time in one’s life only to further illuminate their pain and suffering — and how during these periods it is often the selfless acts of strangers that keeps a person going.”
Watch the video for “A Random Act Of Kindness” above.
This Is A Photograph is out 5/13 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here.