Aledia particularly reflected on the pandemic’s emotional toll.
“It was pretty depressing times because you couldn’t see your parents,” he said. “You didn’t get to spend holidays with anybody. It was really kind of a bummer, and you can hear it in my voice. The timbre is different, the approach is different, and I was able to capture that emotion. This song, even though it was written 10 years before the pandemic hit, was almost like it was meant for it.”
For a visual representation of that isolated feeling, Aledia turned to Farst, the director of the award-winning film, “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man.” Farst has a diverse resume that includes television commercials, corporate productions, live sports and promotional clips for musicians like blues rocker Eric Jerardi.
“We actually shot the video in three days in July, in and around Dayton,” Aledia said. “It was crazy. It was shot, edited, colored and ready to go in less than a week. Allen is such a great director, and the video does an amazing job of capturing the song’s emotion. When I went back and watched it, I was like, ‘Man, this is heavy. This might be a little too heavy.’”
Aledia admits his anxiety eased after he started reading positive feedback online and receiving personal messages and phone calls.
“Some of the responses I’ve received have been amazing,” he said. “It has meant so much to people I never guessed were going through some things. It’s very cool to hear that kind of input and response. Watching the video also helped me realize some things I didn’t know I was dealing with. I was so caught up in the whole process, so when I sat back and watched the video, it had the same effect on me as it did on everybody else.”
Artist info: francaledia.com.
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