Following the February release of her first full-length album Awake Sleeper, indie-folk artist Amy Jay unveils the video, “Lucid Dreaming.”

The album was profoundly influenced by life in New York City, and Jay found the inspiration for this song during a particularly strange morning commute when, through a half-asleep haze, she faintly picked up the smells of sunscreen and cigarettes.

“It brought me straight back to a specific, vivid, just-like-yesterday memory of a childhood pool party in Miami Lakes where I grew up,” she muses. When it came time to film the video, Jay and director/producer Casey Sincic decided to explore the notion that while we grow up and into ourselves as adults, we continue to carry our childhood selves with us.

Weaving actual home videos into new scenes featuring Jay’s friends’ children, the re-creation of a cherished recollection became its own beautiful memory. “We shot it in one day at Prospect Studio in Brooklyn,” Jay recalls. “The kids made the day fly by; they were incredible and loved every minute of it. We danced the day away; nothing made sense while everything made sense.”

Exploring the boundaries between acoustic and synthetic, minimalist and ornate, Jay’s music echoes a breathtaking cross-pollination of introspective songcraft, surprising textures, and hypnotic soundscapes. Working with longtime friend and producer Jonathan Seale of Mason Jar Music, known for his work with Feist, Fleet Foxes, Aoife O’Donovan, and more, as well as his own solo efforts released under the moniker Son of Cloud, Jay gave life to her songs with an idiosyncratic sound equally informed by experimental electronica, classical music, and post-rock as it is by traditional acoustic folk songcraft.

Jay is now getting set to hit the road in support of Awake Sleeper and spent much of last year refurbishing a beat-up shuttle bus into a road-ready RV. “It’s been a dream for a long time,” she says, “before van life became a trend. I love getting my hands dirty, I’m definitely a creative personality. So the idea of making a tour bus from scratch really appealed to me. Now, after many, many, many hours of books and YouTube and Facebook groups and Reddit, it’s a tiny home. It has solar panels and a roof deck; we could put a little amp on top and play shows. We can even record as we travel.”

Big Takeover is pleased to host the video premiere of the heartfelt and nostalgic video for the reflective single “Lucid Dreaming.”

The music video features an adult thinking back to her childhood, and specifically her birthday party and the joys and tumult of the day.

There’s a haunting quality to the unspooling of the home video clips that show kids at play at the celebration, with the question in the air of whether the birthday girl actually enjoyed the party in her honor…

Upcoming shows:

3.31 – Atlanta, GA – Red Light Cafe w/ Jason Howell + Hare and the Hounds
4.1 – Athens, GA – Buvez w/ Annie Leeth + Jason Howell
4.3 – Nashville, TN – House Show w/ Olivia Barton + Jordie Saenz

Awake Sleeper is streaming everywhere. CDs are also available, and vinyl can be pre-ordered, at Amy Jay official WEBSITE.

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