“We came from two different places, different musical backgrounds…
But we meet in the middle… that’s why we’re called Towne,” says Steevie Steeves of her musical other-half Jon Decious. The two come together to create a sound that embodies a little bit of everything. Taking the best of folk, alternative, soul, and country and blending it into something unique. While they defy genre classification they certainly don’t defy the laws of good taste. Their work has only garnered further and further praise as their star has grown. As they release the video for their new single “Camouflage,” we see these two continue to grow into their sound in new and exciting ways, and take steps in a visual language that enriches their own brand of musical storytelling.
There’s a simple elegance at play in “Camouflage.” The duo strip the instrumentation down and let the lyrics do the talking. Melancholy personal truths are sung over a straightforward chord progression. Light piano tinkling, some plucks, and ethereal synth swells fill out much of the rest of the sound, with a few hints of guitar mixed in (Though Decious’ trademark playing takes more of a backseat here). All of this is underpinned by a direct one-two beat, and it all comes together to take a moment in time and capture it in song form. A lover feels invisible to her partner, and sings words she can’t say. Like a haiku, the compactness of the presentation hints at a depth of fathoms beneath.
“One of the things we love most about the video is that there is no direct story line,” says Decious. “When we approached the director, Brian Vaughan… the only stipulation we had was that we didn’t want a ‘story video’,” echoes Steeves. A bold move on the part of the band, but one that pays off. The limited context presented only strengthens the song’s emotional narrative, allowing the viewer to project themselves onto or into the piece. “No actors, no plot. It’s Steevie performing with her own raw emotion,” confirms Decious.
Set in a beaten-up Nashville Hotel, (“drug deals were going down in the parking lot and, god-knows-what-else, was going on in the other rooms,” says Steeves of the filming location) Vaughan’s video sees Steeves performing her song in a moment out of time. She is dressed like a runaway, with notes of Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks lingering about her like perfume. Next to her is Decious, accompanying her, dressed in a clean-cut, yet roguish oeuvre. He is obviously present, but somehow as distant as he is familiar. Over the course of the video nothing changes physically about the situation, but through the sheer force of Steeves’ performance it feels as though the world has been stopped and started again.
“The last thing we wanted to do was act out our take on the song and ruin what others took from it. Once you put a song out into the universe, it’s not really ‘yours’ anymore anyways – if anything, the goal is to have others make it ‘theirs’,” says Steeves. Following Towne’s vision, Vaughan has bolstered fans’ ability to do that. Whilst the video is set in a recognizable locale, said locale is there for emotional context, not narrative. The thesis could be said to be that when these things are happening to you, no matter who or where you are, you feel like you’re alone in a cheap motel. But even that could be too specific a read of the piece. The beauty of “Camouflage” and its video is that no interpretation is definitive. It means what you want it to mean, and Towne and Vaughan give permission for you to be right.
The “Camouflage”video is out now, and the song can be found in the links below.
Towne’s EP, titled Audacious, is coming out on May 18th
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Thomas Burns Scully is a PopDust contributor, and also an award-winning actor, playwright, and musician. In his spare time he writes and designs escape rooms. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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