Ezra Vancil is largely known as a singer/songwriter. A singer/songwriter who fits the traditional mold, playing acoustic songs as he traverses an extensive landscape of rock, folk and even Americana sounding songs. That is precisely why his latest release, “Nothing Under the Sun”, is somewhat of a shocking departure from most of his music.

Indeed, I was taken aback upon first hearing the song that’s the subject of his latest music video. The collaboration with Kid Wimpy finds Vancil stepping completely out of his comfort zone, the track splicing together a hypnotic, programmed track, sounding almost hip-hop-esque at times, with some spoken word elements also thrown in. However, it’s not like Vancil is trying to reinvent himself by any means. Instead, it plays out more like he simply wanted to flex his creative muscle and try something that’s out of the ordinary.

The song takes a bit of a hard look at life in general, blinders off. From tackling how we’re all more or less told there’s a certain road map to life that needs to be followed (“…Find another, multiple in our bed. Self-discover; live your life full of debt …”) to even touching on how technology may not be all it’s cracked up to be. For example, the one spoken word portion, “I saw a preacher on late. He said we could all be free. His teeth were perfect. I wanted to watch the news, but his teeth just held me there…”

At least that’s my interpretation from a few of the lines. Moreover, it’s a song about how you need to blaze your own path in life and derive whatever you need to with your time here.

Apart from the song, the video itself is something to watch as well. At times, it looks like something that would have been perfect on the 90’s era MTV. Not in a campy or cheesy way, but just that some of the visuals seem reminiscent of that time in music videos, before they transitioned to largely being overly polished works of a band merely performing their song in front of a backdrop.

Not that one could ever accuse Vancil of being a one-dimensional musician, though this song is definitive proof that he is not; even standing out as one of the best in his catalog.

If you would like to support Ezra, you can do so via PATREON.
To download “Nothing Under the Sun” along with a solid collection of other past music, an essential collection of songs is available for free on NOISETRADE.