Saint Raymond continues to build anticipation for the April 16th release of his long awaited second album ‘We Forgot We Were Dreaming’ by sharing the new single ‘Soft Landing’ along with an official video. His emotionally charged recent tracks have shown a confident evolution since his Top 10 debut ‘Young Blood’, earning over 4 million streams plus recent airplay courtesy of Radio 1. Listen HERE.
The song’s opening lyrics summarise the often tumultuous journey that Saint Raymond’s life has taken, “I know it’s been a while and everything’s changed,” he sings, “I lost my vision but I’m coming-of-age now.” While the lyrics speak of searching for something more, musically Saint Raymond has never sounded so accomplished. The spacious production – luminous synths, ambient vocal harmonies, increasingly dramatic beats – plays to his strengths, his voice so elegantly expressing the pain of struggling for direction.
Saint Raymond wrote ‘Soft Landing’ with another musician from his hometown of Nottingham: Rob Milton of D.I.D., previously known as Dog Is Dead. Saint Raymond, real name Callum Burrows, commented, “We wrote ‘Soft Landing’ at a time when I was feeling a bit lost with everything. I think the story tells that journey of feeling lost, but having something and someone who makes everything feel normal.”
The official video for ‘Soft Landing’ sees Saint Raymond hitting the open road on the back of a pickup truck, which provides an apt metaphor for the song’s sense of yearning for something more. The tight focus on his performance suggests that he’s lost alone in his thoughts. But when he jumps off the truck, those preconceptions are turned on their head with a final reveal. The video was directed by Bjorn Franklin & Johnny Marchetta. The duo were nominated for Best Pop Video: Newcomer at the 2020 UK Music Video Awards for their inventive, war-themed visual for Nick Wilson’s ‘Enough To Know You’.
As ‘Soft Landing’ suggests, the creation of ‘We Forgot We Were Dreaming’ was a voyage of self-discovery for Saint Raymond. Constantly experimenting with new ideas, the songs emerged from a two years’ worth of songwriting before being recorded in Bath with producer Joe Page. Sonically it sways between energising alt-pop anthems and more introspective moods, with changing relationships and struggles with mental health issues being its dominant themes.
The ‘We Forgot We Were Dreaming’ album is available to pre-order and pre-save here. All recent Saint Raymond singles, including ‘Soft Landing’, are provided as instant downloads for fans who pre-order the album. It will be released on CD, orange LP, black LP and cassette formats, as well as for download and streaming. A variety of bundles and new merch items are also on offer.
You can watch the official music video for Saint Raymonds ‘Soft Landing’ below…
