Video: Wish You Were Here, ‘Christmas Creek’

Kevin Bronson on October 10th, 2019

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One of the most stirring, drop-dead pretty — and straight-outta-left-field — albums to come through this portal this year is “I’m Afraid of Everything,” the debut album from Wish You Were Here.

It’s an album of lush, atmospheric folk music and the work of SoCal-bred singer-songwriter Jesse Barnett, who is known for his work in the hardcore punk band Stick to Your Guns and the hard-rockin’ supergroup Trade Wind. WYWH’s music could not be more different.

“I grew up in a family that just really appreciated good music, so stuff like Paul Simon, James Taylor, and Bill Withers was always playing around the house,” Barnett says. “I didn’t find punk and hardcore until high school, but I was already playing acoustic guitar and singing, so that kind of music is actually closer to my musical ‘origin story’ than punk.”

The songs on “I’m Afraid of Everything” took shape slowly, starting some five years ago when he was living in Montreal, as the rigors of being a hard-touring rocker took their toll on Barnett’s personal life. “I had a hard time learning how to navigate between normal life and tour life,” he says. “My long-term relationship was ending, and I was getting frustrated with being in a band because I blamed touring for not being able to make my relationship work. You can plan your whole life, but it can be completely uprooted. I needed something to make sense of everything that was happening.”

Working over time with producer Derek Hoffman, Barnett fleshed out the songs. The result is a collection of intricately layered folk music that swirls around Barnett’s hushed confessionals.

The poignant album opener “Christmas Creek” (“You had to have loved me / to hate this much, oh it’s true”) is a good entrée. And if the video doesn’t give you goosebumps, check your nerve endings.

In the video, a young lad is separated from his cherished stuffed bunny — only to have the white rabbit reappear behind the wheel of a white Lexus. It’s a modern fable based on “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” — off they go on a joy ride, spending some quality time together and generally bonding before things take a dark turn.

||| Watch: The video for “Christmas Creek”