Youssef Nassar‘s video for ‘Perfect Life’ has now been viewed over 1 million times on the official YouTube channel. For me the visual accompaniment to my albums forms an essential part of the overall SW experience, so thank you so much for the continued interest in the videos posted here.

Perfect Life was the last song written for Hand. Cannot. Erase., and along with Routine I think it’s my favourite on the album. It’s another in a series of songs I’ve written over the years that tries to tap in to the poetry of nostalgia and lost childhood. Using the story recited in the song as a starting point, Youssef shot this beautiful video on location in his home country Lebanon. Before he did I also asked him to watch one of my favourite films, Peter Weir’s “Picnic at Hanging Rock” for inspiration, and he managed to capture some of the golden dream like quality of that film, particularly in the very moving performances of the 2 young girls in the video. When I saw the final version I immediately felt it should be the first material to be released ahead of Hand. Cannot. Erase. – in its simplicity it seemed to me it was something unexpected, but powerfully emotional. So my deepest gratitude to Youssef for creating this wonderful piece of art.

Jess Cope’s video for ‘Routine’ will be released online soon. I know many people have been asking for this one, so thanks for your patience.