You will probably know Christian Hardy best as the muli-talented instrumentalist and producer behind The Leisure Society. The Brighton/London band, of course, have always been a splendid mix of pathos and wry humour, as well as a truly uplifting experience from a live perspective.
True to form, Hardy’s latest, with his side project Pop Crisis, is the deceptively titled ‘Tell Me I’m Wonderful‘, which, rather than being a braggish demand, is more of a cry for help, calling to mind 10cc‘s classic ‘I’m Not In Love‘, enchantingly pretty both musically and lyrically, rallying briefly towards a more positive finale before returning to pensive reflection at the death.
Trigger Happy prankster Dom Joly stars in the starkly beautiful video as a melancholy clown. Dom clearly gets it. He says: “When I heard the song I kind of instantly felt it was about the mask we all wear in public. I was going to do something really clever to highlight this but in the end just painted my face white and looked sad.”
“I wanted to make a video about the brittleness of modern men under all that bravado and bluster, and I thought Dom could do that really well,” adds Hardy, and he’s spot on with such an observation. Watch for yourself, for if the track itself doesn’t already hit home hard enough with its truly aching beauty, Joly’s surprising poignancy in the role really does deliver that final sucker punch.
