In his second video for Southend band Asylums, Andy Delaney directs an understated monochromatic visual for A Perfect Life In A Perfect World. 

Shot in the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis, prior to the lockdown, London is portrayed as an anxious and uneasy environment, perfectly echoing the themes of the track. 

Delaney takes charge of cinematography as well as direction, confidently capturing the same essence of unease through clever composition and lighting choices. 

ANDY DELANEY: 

"A couple of things contributed to the ideas behind the video. Firstly, the song sounds BIG - no surprise when you know the band went to Chicago to record the album with Steve Albini. So we needed scale.

"Secondly, everything flows from a very specific emotional state. Luke Branch, who wrote the song, explained that the hook 'stare with me' refers to feeling sometimes that you’re watching other people live their lives while being numb and detached from your own. Like living behind glass.

"In Wings of Desire the angels look on at life, unable to taste or feel or truly experience what mortals do. That seemed a good place to start. So with timeless hubris I said to the band, ’OK fellas, we’re going to do Wings of Desire in London with no money - just me, you and Mak’. And off we went.

"We shot over a couple of weekends in February as news of the virus was intensifying - some of that unease and wariness of other people affected the choices of location. The docklands cable cars for instance seemed to represent feeling isolated in a bubble. That isolation is now of course government-mandated behaviour. Throughout we used settings that felt either claustrophobic or agoraphobic to create an uneasy portrait of an anxious city.

"Props to Adrian Seery, my grading saviour, the man who always makes me look good and who has been doing so for ever. And a big thank you to Cool Thing Records for letting me start making music videos again."

LUKE BRANCH:

“Originally it was about my own struggles with low moods and not always living in the moment, thinking about how life could be all the time. Now during this period of uncertainty and profound challenge for the country and the world it feels more like a song about the future, a song about how we might want to conduct ourselves after this period of isolation and reflection.

“I hope very much that centres around kindness, community, creativity and compassion.”