Sincerely, Iris Unveils Gripping Animated Video For “Take Your Soul”
Richmond singer-songwriter and guitarist Todd Murray recently teamed up with Charlotte-based artist Matthew Barnes on a video for the Sincerely, Iris tune “Take Your Soul.” The song appears on I’m Not The Same, the full-length album Murray released in October of 2019, and he describes the clip as a “Carolina folk tale,” crediting story and animation to Barnes.
Despite a chorus that insists on defiant hopefulness, the sound of “Take Your Soul” is defined by darkness, and the animation follows suit. It’s a striking set of images — unsettling at every turn, thanks in large part to the menacing sense of movement Barnes achieves via textural noise and quick cuts that keep context shifting underneath you. Barnes’ representations of internal torment are especially gripping. Just after Murray sings about “ghosts in your mind,” a demonic shadow flashes behind the protagonist. Projections like it continue to appear, nodding to the stated themes of guilt and redemption, and the duality separating what appears on the surface and what we feel inside.
In that sense, the video echoes the structure of I’m Not The Same. The album’s Bandcamp liner notes refer to “a Jekyll and Hyde quality” whereby the first half emphasizes the bluesy sounds Murray makes with his homemade four-string license plate guitar (fashioned for him from scraps of wood and an old Colorado plate), where the second half turns toward acoustic guitar-driven folk, with “Run Baby Run” as a haunting diving line. Murray himself has engaged his fair share of movement, having lived in half a dozen states before making Richmond his home.
If you enjoy “Take Your Soul,” be sure to give I’m Not The Same track “Traveling Man” a listen; the lyrics capture that sense of restlessness, and there’s a live version worth watching that highlights Murray’s exceptional acoustic guitar work.
Watch the gripping video for “Take Your Soul” below, and make sure to check out the rest of the I’m Not The Same album, available now on Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify, and other digital platforms.
