Singled Out: Vince Grant's Oceans II

Vince Grant tells us about his single "Oceans II" which is a track that is featured on his five-song EP "My Depression Is Always Trying To Kill Me". Here is the story:

I chose "Oceans II" as my current single because I wanted to do a video and was working with a new director. I'd already done two previous videos from the EP and my songs tend to be a bit lengthy, so I decided it was probably best to choose the shortest track left available from the EP that didn't have a video yet. "Oceans II" clocks in at just under five minutes and the other two songs that were in contention are seven and ten minutes respectively. Thought they might be a little long to attempt when working with a director for the first time, so "Oceans II" seemed the more obvious choice.

The lyrical theme of my EP centers around living with depression and my struggles with alcoholism and addiction, although a listener might not necessarily pick up on that hearing this song out of context from the rest of the EP because "Oceans II" isn't as obvious or upfront lyrically as some of the other songs. Think it's, for lack of a better term, more metaphorically vague, but I feel it does touch on and try to describe, in perhaps slightly more obscure fashion, what it's like to deal with depression.
The more specific meaning behind "Oceans II" is about not giving up when I feel depressed. Depression, at least for me, is not a static thing. It's not a black and white existence. The part of the song where I sing, "And it feels like I'm almost there", is about perseverance, regardless of how I'm feeling at the time, and to try and realize no matter how low I may get there is still a glimmer of hope and tomorrow is a new day. When I'm really feeling down I can lose sight of this and the song's lyrics are a good reminder that there is always hope.

The video for the song has been completed and was released at the same time as the single. The only real clear cut ideas going into the video were that of the director, Sandu Negrea, who wanted to film it at night in black and white using only the light sources available where we were filming. He wanted a gritty, urban vibe to the look of the video, which initially surprised me since the song is called "Oceans II", but for some reason I totally trusted him. He seemed to have some sort of vision in his head And to expound on Sandu's earlier idea regarding the lighting, none of the shots were professionally or artificially lit and most of the time he was using streetlights as his only source of light. The performance footage was actually done under florescent lights, which is a testament in itself to how good of a cinema photographer he is. The entire shoot went incredibly smooth and I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. It was an awesome experience to work with him and his skills both behind the camera and as an editor are evident for all to see. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to work with him. As a matter of fact, we had such a good time working together that we almost immediately started talking about doing another video and since the completion of "Oceans II" we have already shot one for a different song from the EP. So more to come!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself you watch the video here and learn more about Vince and his new EP right here!

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