From his 2019 release, Gentle Warrior, Jont revisits the album’s opening track, treating “Birdwatching” to a stunning music video that highlights both the beauty of the Cape Breton Highlands and the talents of local director Matt Ingraham.
“Birdwatching” swings for the fences. This is Jont’s bread and butter; the big emotive hits that become shared acts of musical catharsis. He’s never shied away from the idea of music as medicine, and this song, in particular, encompasses that well with a sublime combination of piano (Bob Sherwood) and string arrangements (Oli Langford).
The real star of the show, according to Jont, however, is director Matt Ingraham. Ingraham, a native of Cape Breton, convinced Jont to film the video in the region’s beautiful highlands, and the result may as well be a tourism video. Between the lush scenery, the curious post-industrial town of Sydney, and the slow-motion walking shots, it’s enough to seriously consider mandating Cape Breton vacations as part of our healthcare coverage.
Ingraham says that, for him, the song represents a hero’s journey, in which he’s attempted to portray two worlds in a single experience: “one a dream state of bliss, exploring the magic of the highlands of Cape Breton, and the other world being the dreadful reality of everyday life, shot in the post-industrial town of Sydney; really showcasing the range of beauty that the island holds.”
It’s inherently bittersweet, but to be fair, from our current perspective from the bleak side of a winter pandemic, the dreadful reality of the beautiful summer day depicted in the video doesn’t seem all that dreadful.
The scenery is idyllic, and the wildlife… Well, it’s s questionable, given the prominence that eagles take in the song’s lyrics, whether the appearance of the eagles in the video was nothing more than sheer luck. Showing up at Cape Breton’s Cape Clear in time for the shoot is simply too perfect.
“One of my favourite moments in the video is when we are shooting the take of Jont lying on the grass underneath the tree when suddenly the eagle showed up to fly way above him,” says Ingraham. “You can see Jont’s reaction to it showing up mid-take after spending the day driving around to find eagles”.
“We had no idea we would get that shot and especially not in that total paradise,” says Jont, “I was so grateful to Matt for introducing me to that place and for the way he weaved the themes of the song together. I’m not sure if it was great for his car going up that road but the video would have been nothing without that location”.
Jont, as part of the ever-shifting landscape of the music industry, has made all seven videos from his album Thank You For The Medicine available through his dedicated album page, and notes that supporters have access to his regular zoom gigs for a monthly subscription via jontnet.com.