Stream: Opus Vitae, ‘Chasing Ducks’

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Opus Vitae (Photo by Adam Reynolds)

Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and one-man recording dynamo Banah Winn makes emotionally heavy pop-cum-indie-rock under the name Opus Vitae. After releasing an EP in 2015 and a handful of singles since, he’s plotting the release of the full-length “Gramercy” this year, so songs that have been confined to the Opus Vitae cupboard are now seeing the light of day.

The new single from Opus Vitae, “Chasing Ducks,” is an old song that Banah Winn has given new wings.

And did we mention emotionally heavy? Drenched in melancholy, “Chasing Ducks” is a dog-eared photograph from Winn’s past. The slow-building ballad reveals the disconnect between what the songwriter felt then and what he knows now. Winn shares the song’s history:

“One of my favorite memories as a kid [was] chasing ducks around the pond of the lake in Portland, Ore.,” he says, traing the song’s roots to a time “I was stranded in Los Angeles away from my family and alone for Hanukkah/Christmas. My stepmom sent me a photo album with pictures from my childhood, bringing back a flood of nostalgic memories. A look back into the messiness that was my upbringing, and a look forward into the search for home.

“It’s a reflection on childhood and dichotomy of how ignorance is bliss, yet during that time in hindsight you realize there was a lot more going on than you realized. I hope people will take away that family is messy, but it’s family, and that messiness is a wonderful thing. Despite living in a home that was essentially splitting apart, and feeling like I was in the middle of it all, there were a lot of really great times to feel nostalgic about. The idea of home is an important one, and a universal one, and I know we’re all looking for that. Even if that place is far from perfect.”

||| Stream: “Chasing Ducks”

||| Previously: “Get Lost,” “The Fall”