Kevin Bronson on March 21st, 2017

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In five albums with his band Neva Dinova and in the solo work that followed, Omaha-bred, L.A.-based Jake Bellows has displayed a deft touch for turning Everyman stories into expansive, dreamy hymns. And so it is with the new single “Little Bird” — his first new music since his 2013 solo album for Saddle Creek — of which he says, simply, “Aren’t we all small weak birds in imaginary cages?”

“Little Bird” was one of many unreleased songs that Bellows has played live, and it caught the ear of Omaha filmmaker Martin Kenna, who reached out to Bellows with an idea for a narrative video. “When I told him my idea he was into it and gave me complete artistic freedom to take the story of the video where I wanted, which is super rare for any musician to do,” Kenna says. “I was very thankful for that. I am very happy to be able to make a poignant and hopefully thought-provoking video for one of the best underrated singer-songwriters out there. Any fans of Neva Dinova will know what I’m talking about.”

Indeed, the video, which stars Darrick Silkman in all his workaday mopery, abides the same touching, plaintive tone of the song. “A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days,” reads a sign in Silkman’s cubicle, and ain’t that the truth. When Silkman breaks away, brilliantly, you want to immerse yourself in some of that same catharsis.

||| Watch: The video for “Little Bird”