Flyte Collaborates with Mark Jenkin For New Single 'Losing You'

By: Jul. 23, 2020
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Flyte Collaborates with Mark Jenkin For New Single 'Losing You'

Flyte and Bafta-Winner Mark Jenkin continue their collaboration with the remarkably beautiful video for "Losing You," another glimpse into Flyte's LA adventure and produced by Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Bon Iver). A delicate account of heartbreak written years ago by lead singer Will Taylor, it was only until the band brought the song to Andrew that they had the confidence to record it and create something that felt like it "never left the lonely bedroom." Bait director Mark Jenkin has used his trademark hand-processed and physically edited film to produce a nostalgic narrative of a lost love, interlaced with footage of the band during lockdown.The video premiered via Flood who note,"the song's lyrics match the video's nostalgic, heartbreaking appeal."

Watch "Losing You" below!

The band's Will Taylor told Flood: "Every detail of 'Losing You' is taken directly from the week after a breakup. We actually got back together and years later it ended again but this time the roles had been reversed. It felt strangely poignant singing a song that I was initially directing at someone who'd hurt me, to then turn it around and sing it back at myself. I don't think Flyte was ready to take on this song until now. We were finally confident enough to just play the song and not add any extra production, and let the lyrics do all the talking. Andrew Sarlo wanted it to feel like the track never left the lonely bedroom. Like the band just came over, jammed out the song and that was that".

Mark Jenkin said: "The idea for the aesthetic came from spooling through old VHS tapes in my studio and seeing the various layers of recordings reveal themselves. I liked the idea of an old black and white film having been partially recorded over with some home movie footage and the two then seeming to have a bit of a conversation with each other, despite being separated by time and place. Those strange accidental counterpoints only seem to exist in the analogue world. Digital footage of the band (shot by Tee Byford) was then repeatedly looped to VHS, with the colour bleeding and drifting with each new generation. The film element was shot on a Bolex, with the negative processed by hand, scanned, and copied to video tape."

This spring Flyte shared "Easy Tiger" which landed on NPR's "New Music Friday" playlist and drew further accolades from, among others, DuJour, Northern Transmissions, Atwood, Alice Magazine and We All Want Someone to Shout For who noted, "It continues the band on their unstoppable winning streak. They care over that lush romantic folk-driven rock sound, full of strings and other beautiful moments."

Last year, the three secondary school friends from Winchester; Will Taylor, Jon Supran and Nick Hill released their White Roses EP, featuring a stunning collaboration from The Staves, with production from long-time collaborator Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Julia Jacklin) and Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, The National). The band welcomed Jess Stavely Taylor of the Staves to play with them at their Omeara and Village Underground headlines, adding a whole new dimension to their trademark vocal harmonies. The EP release was followed by an extensive US tour with Jade Bird, where the band recorded covers from artists linked to American cities from Nashville to Chicago; Judy Collins to Elliot Smith, which they have reposted as odes to live music during quarantine; "Almost every state had an artist we truly loved who was from there," Will said in a recent interview with Evening Standard.

Flyte are renowned for their complex and rich vocal arrangements and melodies, with lyrics steeped in literary imagery; The Sunday Times calling their acclaimed debut record The Loved Ones "The Best British debut album of the year," but it was touring in California that recently took hold of their imagination. Inspired by their time in Laurel Canyon, the band recorded their next full-length record in LA with producers Justin Raisen (Angel Olsen, Ariel Pink), Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Bon Iver) and Ali Chant (Aldous Harding) on mixing duties. LA was a much-needed new environment to confront the personally challenging subject matter written back home in London, and an opportunity to work with some of their musical heroes.



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