South African singer-songwriter Cherilyn MacNeil – better known as Dear Reader – is set to release her new album Day Fever on 24th February via City Slang. It’s her first record in four years and sees MacNeil at her most raw and powerful yet, tackling difficult topics in stark, unflinching detail. Her new single ‘I Know You Can Hear It’ demonstrates that beautifully, with its orchestral indie-pop accompanying a narrative centred on death.
The video for ‘I Know You Can Hear It’ takes the song’s core theme to heart, presenting a dark tale in which Dear Reader and her band essentially become gatekeepers to the afterlife. Director Annikki Heinemann explained: “Dear Reader’s song deals with the theme of death, so we decided to tell the story of a young man who has died, and his transition into the next realm. Cherilyn and her band mates play four ‘ferrywomen’ who help guide the man to the afterlife, and rather than a place to be feared, it is a place where he can be free.” Watch below.
Photo credit: Shane Thomas McMillan
