Heartbreaking Bravery

“The video has clips from times in my life that were fun, and it’s about growing from that even if things have changed.” In that lone sentence describing the “talk to me” music video from Brooke Johnson’s solo project, father truck, Johnson exceeds the word count of the song. Combining that sentence with the only one present in “talk to me” — the twice-repeated “I wish I had enough time” —  along with the visuals and suddenly, this sub-minute piece’s meaning expands infinitely.

The song’s taken from father truck’s forthcoming stealing flowers from the neighbor’s lawn, which was partially inspired by the excellent Adventure Time miniseries Islands, which explores everything from fractured familial relationships to several feasible fates for humanity, should certain paths be emphasized. Affecting, introspective, bittersweet, and ultimately tender, Islands influence can be felt all over the video for “talk to me”, which incorporates ambiguous footage from a previous spring over a melancholic organ figure.

Sincere pleading collides with the downhearted acceptance that life can never truly give us everything we want, leaving it up to us to carve out some good parts along the way (and then look back on them fondly as we move forward and face new sets of challenges). “talk to me” may end with birds chirping and earnest laughter but what comes before that moment could hardly be described as light. Then again, when we’re faced with the bleakest circumstances or realizations, sometimes laughing’s all we can do.

Watch “talk to me” below and pre-order stealing flowers from the neighbor’s lawn from It Takes Time here.