If you’re a fan of Super 8 film, you’ll love this new video for Oliver James Brooks’ latest single, which we’re thrilled to premiere today on Roots Music Canada.
Oliver released “How It’s Goin'” on Oct. 20 to tee up his forthcoming album, In A Little Long While, due later this month.
The video takes us on a journey through a month in the life of Oliver James Brooks, providing us with a literal depiction of “how it’s goin'” — or at least how it was going in August, when it was shot. It featurs Oliver, his friends and family captured in good moments, and sometimes in bad. The intention behind the video is to show viewers that life has its ups and downs; it’s not always perfect. This is especially important as we live in a world where people alter how they’re perceived by others, mostly showing only one side of the story.
“I think it’s important to be real and authentic in what is shown these days, seeing as most things are heavily curated,” he explained. “Believe it or not, without even planning for it, I had many ups and many downs, and August turned out to be a life changing month for me.”
Oliver James Brooks is a Toronto-based musician from small-town Ontario. Inspired by greats such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Joy Division and Elliott Smith, he focuses heavily on capturing sounds that are raw, organic and real.
His latest effort is a 10-track studio album written and produced over the last two years. It was primarily recorded at River Valley Studio, otherwise known as Oliver’s living room, using gear from the ’70s to record, mix and master. The sounds wobble and the tape hisses. The main theme of the record is contrast, exploring the duality of day-to-day life— the ups, the downs, the feeling of being lost and the feeling of being found.
Over the years, Oliver has had the opportunity to work alongside some great folks in the industry and has been compared to Neil Young, Kurt Vile and Gordon Lightfoot. The 2021 release titled Storm Chasing was described as “hypnotic” by Americana UK and made the list of top Canadian songs by Exclaim! He gained radio airplay on CBC, and The Walleye deemed Brooks “a musician to watch out for.”
