Orville Peck plays the lone cowboy in the video for his melancholy new song “Summertime.” It is the masked singer’s first offering from the follow-up to 2019’s Pony and the first under his new agreement with Columbia Records.
Driven by rumbling, low-end lead guitar licks and Peck’s resonant baritone, “Summertime” conjures the same feeling of loneliness and desolation as his previous releases “Dead of Night” and “Turn to Hate.” “Watch each other fallin’/Always catch the call and whistle while we’re walkin’/Something inside me dies,” he sings, pining for the titular season, which may be as much about another person as a time of year.
The accompanying video was directed by Drew Kirsch and is a visual feast, with a black, leather-clad Peck a solitary figure on the horizon. He’s ensnared by roots and anchored in one place, at which point his brooding cowboy façade gives way to a bright, floral suit topped by a pink-fringed mask.
“[We] wanted the video to focus around the idea of how we treat nature,” Peck said in a release. “Ultimately this is a song about biding your time and staying hopeful — even if it means missing something or someone.”
The coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of Peck’s spring tour dates, but he’s been staying in touch via social media and livestreamed performances. The most recent of his livestreams took place March 31st and is available on YouTube.
