Jesse James Dupree has revealed the official music video for “Stranded,” the second single from his latest solo album Breathing Fire.
The song itself captures Dupree looking inwards, and writing about an experience we can all relate to,”the feeling of isolation.” His hope is “all listeners find that individual meaning, and simply that it resonates with each of us on varying levels in a deeply, personal way.”
The cinematography captures Dupree as a figure of solitude who travels the tundra of America’s Northwestern plains where the openness of the land connects with “the solitary figure’s personal isolation.” And in that journey he seeks “the means to cross a bridge towards understanding his place in the universe, and potentially peace and closure away from being alone in an omnipresent sense.”
The landscape we find in the video is not new to Dupree. He’s been visiting South Dakota for decades. This video pays tribute to “what a special place this has become in his life.”
The album and the videos developed organically, and that has been a consistent theme surrounding Breathing Fire.
Dupree shares:
The way this song specifically came together in the studio is freaky. I had a vision of where I wanted to go with it, and threw myself to the universe. What transpired was beyond anything I envisioned would be created. Sometimes stress can affect your voice. Alongside many other potential physical side effects. When I was recording the tracks, emotions came in to play — I almost felt like was singing with someone else’s voice. I was singing from a different place. Listening back now, as an observer, to me I know what I am hearing. I could have waited, and revisited the songs, but I went with it. As I was that moment in time.
Dealing with stress, emotion, lack of sleep and many other things, I recorded a lot of these vocals by myself, in solitude in the studio. This vibe surrounded me. I have a vintage Norman microphone and it was the source capturing the vocals in an open space. Not in a traditional vocal booth, but with the mic feet away from me. Simply singing how it felt in the moment, and strangely enough it was liberating in a way I’ve ever known. I just sang in to the room, and there were several moments where I spooked myself. I got a sense of a feeling I’ve never had. Almost scaring myself, lost in the moment. There is a certain point where I scream and it scared the wholly hell out of me.
The album features Dupree on guitar and vocals, his son Nigel on drums, and Jackyl bandmate Roman Glick on bass.
