Music Matters
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

First Watch: River Whyless, 'All Day All Night'

In front of an impeccably decorated set, River Whyless' members look straight into the camera. In some moments, they're upright and serious, but in others, they're laughing and goofing off. The Asheville, N.C., folk quartet's new video for "All Day All Night" is playful but unmistakably lovely. We see the band holding pineapples and bird nests, all while wearing spray-painted gold sunglasses and matching gold outfits. As directed by Jethro Waters, the vivid colors and weird visuals match River Whyless' delightful alt-folk sound. "All Day All Night" plays with vocal loops as well as old-school folk guitar and some brilliant violin work.

In an interview over email with NPR Music, Waters says that "'All Day All Night' is a little haunting, but it has such a beautiful hook, and I suppose I wanted to make sure that a similar dynamic happened visually. I'd been kicking around the idea of using a color palette of primarily gold, turquoise and teal, and this song seemed to fit perfectly with that idea. The gold room transitioning into the nighttime environment isn't much of a mystery; it's just a translation of the song title, with the movement from day to night as the shots become progressively darker throughout."

"All Day All Night" comes from We All The Light, out August 26 via Roll Call Records.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.