Words by Keane Fletcher

2020 has been tough y’all. Full of broken plans, questions about the future, and concern for our nearest and dearest, it has also been the year where (until recently) the idea of seeing interstate loved ones became a pipedream, a simple pleasure outlawed by health officials and border controls in order to curb the ongoing threat of COVID-19. And while the pandemic is not officially referenced in Perth singer-songwriter Mitchell Martin’s single ‘Please Come Home’, you can’t help but feel the weight of it looming over his new video for the song, a simple yet deeply felt meditation on love and its accompanying anxieties.

Watch the premiere of Mitchell Martin's live music video for 'Please Come Home' below!

Directed by Brady Jenkins, with assistance from camera operators Reilly Stewart and Simon Yip, the video has a simple set-up with Martin performing the song live onstage at The Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre (audio mixed and mastered by James Newhouse of Lambchop Records) while his band play at a remove (#socialdistancing). It should be noted here that Bunbury is Martin’s hometown, a detail that becomes increasingly poignant the more you think about it. As stated before, while not explicitly referencing the pandemic, in a post-COVID world the phrase ‘please come home’ (sung to the subtly melancholic refrains of Martin’s guitar) bristles with new context. While Martin himself sings quite clearly about a romantic relationship, you can’t help but wonder as the camera zooms in on each band member (Aaron Birch, guitar; Emma Gushlow, bass; Riley Sutton, drums), who each of them might be thinking about during these troubled times. Who each of them might be missing, or worrying about.

Says Martin:

‘When I was writing this song, I was trying to put into words all the emotions that come rushing in when it's really late at night and you’re waiting for someone to come home. I was picturing myself lying awake with the lights on and just overthinking about all the bad things that could have happened...through these lyrics, I was hoping to portray the internal battle between my rational thinking and emotional thinking which I feel like we all battle with when overthinking and stressing about things like this.’ 

Released on October 2^nd, 'Please Come Home' has been something of a breakthrough for Martin, being his highest charting single to date, having debuted at #3 on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter Chart as well as passing 6000 Spotify streams in its first month of release. Though to be fair, despite being only 23 (wtf!) Martin has been steadily building his fanbase for years, with previous single ‘Dim the Lights’ hitting #20 on the iTunes Rock Charts and an earlier 2020 release, ‘Be Myself’, nominated for the Western Australian Song of the Year. And what have you been doing with your life?

He is also a prodigious live performer, having supported the likes of Killing Heidi, Sheppard, Katy Steele, and Justice Crew in addition to headlining his own sellout shows. This is where a video like ‘Please Come Home’ really shines, for you absolutely get the sense that you’re there in the room at a Mitchell Martin gig, all coloured lights and atmospheric reverb, caught up in a crowd of sweaty strangers. And while it could be argued that live videos of this sort lose a sense of daring in their approach, for some of us in the Eastern States, the idea of standing that close to someone in a windowless auditorium sounds daring enough at the moment.

'Please Come Home' is available now on all streaming platforms.

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