Kendra Morris is gearing up to release her new album Nine Lives on February 18 via Karma Chief/Colemine Records (pre-order), and having recently released lead single "Penny Pincher," we're now premiering the title track and its video. Compared to the stripped-back balladry of "Penny Pincher," "Nine Lives" is more heavily layered and hearkens back to late '60s / early '70s psychedelic soul with its staccato pianos and sweeping arrangements. Its nostalgic video also looks straight out of that same era, and here's what Kendra tells us about it:
I came up with the initial concept for "Nine Lives" pretty much as soon as the album wrapped and was listening to it in its entirety. The song envelopes the concept of the entire album in that we live multiple lifetimes in one, so when I was thinking about a visual for the song... I kept seeing our lives and versions of ourselves as colors... how we can peel off each one and try on another... sometimes we have to die a little to find ourselves again. I ended up crossing paths with its director, Sarai Mari, randomly while rollerskating at an event last summer when she snapped a photo of me for her book and a friend spotted the image posted up on Kent avenue... I reached out and we immediately hit it off as friends and sometimes collaborators. Her creative eye, humor and hunger to try new things was inspiring.
Loving to explore new visual projects, and wanting to build on the concept of color telling a story. I approached Sarai about this project. She then elaborated on the plot with and it continued to unwrap unfold. We were excited to challenge ourselves and filmed this on VHS and relying on a solid team to build out the looks through use of make up and hours spent in a chair with Randy Rosenthal, wig design (10 wigs by Bunny Hallquist i!!!!) and the wardrobe styling by Kim Mesches . My friend Nick Sgaglione is a beast with camera work, edits and coloring and filled out our team. By the end of a month playing dodgeball with Omicron... I feel like we had a winner.