Video premiere: Sara Melson, ‘Walk Softly’

Kevin Bronson on August 3rd, 2020

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What’s good for the mind and body is good for planet Earth — that’s the nurturing message behind singer-songwriter Sara Melson’s new single “Walk Softly.” The song, from Melson’s forthcoming EP “Wild & Precious Life,” offers an ethereal bit of sermonizing, a calming hymn for tempestuous times.

“‘Walk Softly’ is a letter that I wrote to myself,” Melson says. “It’s a prayer, a reminder to walk more mindfully through this life, with more awareness. … It’s a plea with myself to try to be more patient, more compassionate, more gentle, more kind, more forgiving, more open. It’s so easy to get hardened by life. And then we take out our anger and bitterness onto ourselves and onto others, and it’s reflected in the way we treat the planet, too.

“This is a time of great potential and great change, and I am so inspired by the fight for justice for people and the planet. Love can play a central role in winning that fight.”

The song was originally recorded in Melson’s living room with her full band — guitarist Danny Hechter and bassist Nick Diiorio co-produced, with Jake Faun contributing the “trippy Baba O’Reilly-like guitar part,” Koi Anunta on violin and keys, and Jonas Streffer adding drums later in the studio, Melson explains. “That version of the song is a giant, anthemic rock song. It’s pretty epic. For this mix, though, I stripped it way down, with Eric Breiner of PeachMusicLA. … The mix is spare — not a lot in there — but because of the arrangements, it feels full and lush.”

The video, directed and shot by David Morrison, takes the same simple approach. “We chose to shoot with a lot of slo-mo, to invoke a languid feeling of slowing down,” says Melson, who displays a few moves revealing her past as a ballet dancer. “So much of our attention these days is distracted, darting from one thing to the next. There’s so much fast-moving input thrown at us at all times. I wanted to make something that felt like the opposite of that … a reverie, meditative and dreamy, like a luscious, deep breath; like a mushroom trip.”

“Wild & Precious Life,” which derives its title from a line in the Mary Oliver poem “The Summer Day” (“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”), is out on Friday.

||| Watch: The video for “Walk Softly”