The lead single off of Yonder Mountain String Band’s upcoming album, Nowhere Subsequent, dances between two emotional poles. “Am I rising or failing?” asks one chorus of the music, Right here I Go, that includes 16-time Grammy Award Winner and dobro participant Jerry Douglas. “Which narrative will win?”
Watch as skilled skier Chris Benchetler stars within the newly-released music video under.
Skiers who’ve ever perched atop a spooky line or cliff can relate—enhancing on the slopes requires placing ourselves in uncomfortable however rewarding conditions. Professionals like Chris Benchetler presumably face that wobbly sensation, too, however because the star of Right here I Go’s music video, he makes it look simple. With bluegrassy tunes as a sonic backdrop, Benchetler spins and flips down the mountain, marrying the improvisational natures of music and snowboarding.
The impetus for the music video collaboration between Benchetler and the Yonder Mountain String Band originated years in the past. The skier and band met on the GoPro Video games in 2021, the place Benchetler was dwell portray guitars with fellow artist Skye Walker throughout a set break. Benchetler should have preferred what he’d heard of the Yonder Mountain String Band as a result of he invited them again on stage to play whereas they painted.
The band and Benchetler already had widespread floor. Each share a artistic muse, the Grateful Useless, and there was one other level of congruency: snowsports. Adam Aijala of the Yonder Mountain String Band began snowboarding in third grade, ultimately switching to snowboarding in 1998. For a time, he labored as a liftie and snowmaker within the ski resort dense Lake Tahoe, California, space.
Picture: Yonder Mountain String Band/Robin Vega
The Yonder Mountain String Band’s members knew of Benchetler’s stature as a skier and filmmaker, and many of the group had seen his video challenge, Hearth On The Mountain, which featured music from the Grateful Useless. In-person, Benchetler lived as much as his kindhearted repute.
“Chris is among the coolest and most supportive individuals we’ve met by means of the band. The dude is a legend in so many mediums, however what stands out essentially the most is how real he’s,” mentioned Aijala. “Chris and Yonder share and maintain a deep appreciation for the Grateful Useless. If not for Jerry Garcia, possibly I’d be in a metallic band now.”
Since then, the band and the skier have mentioned working collectively extra formally, and when Benchetler joined Arc’Teryx, he used Yonder Mountain String Band’s observe, Fall Outta Line, for the announcement video.
As Yonder Mountain String Band’s album Nowhere Subsequent was coming collectively, the band wasn’t certain what they needed to do for his or her music movies, in order that they hit up Benchetler on a whim to see if he had any archival footage obtainable. Benchetler, alongside his common movie collaborator Flagship Unbiased, created one thing particular with the video accompaniment for Right here I Go in response.
“We had been anticipating a ‘video,’ however what they delivered was a lot extra,” the band defined. “They created a visually dynamic, cinematic expertise that enhances the music’s vitality and imaginative and prescient, completely capturing the essence of the music and Chris’s dynamic fashion.”
The outcomes are an ode to snowboarding and music, a pairing that’s existed perennially in various codecs. Rap and park snowboarding. Nu metallic and large mountain strains. Comfortable different and sleek swap powder turns. Yonder Mountain String Band’s twangy riffs, hooky bridges, and soulful lyrics really feel like an extension of Benchetler’s snowboarding. Whereas Right here I Go would possibly confront ambiguity, there’s nothing questionable concerning the interdisciplinary mashup that produced its music video—some issues, like peanut butter and jelly, go higher collectively.
Yonder Mountain String Band’s Right here I Go is out on streaming platforms tomorrow, and Nowhere Subsequent releases November eighth.
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