UK born 24-year old SC. Undercover started creating music in Birmingham as a way of escapism from what at one point seemed to be a permanent road to severe depression and addiction. His latest track Darkness Before Light is about finding closure from his past, where he was struggling with depression, addiction and past relationships. The song also creates hope where he is seeking love and light in a new world which is beautifully produced with several live instruments to create an atmospheric stadium sounding song. We are very pleased to present the video premiere today
Sam told RockShot “The visual itself was directed by Justin Campbell from 4Brum tv. The inspiration was to create a video that really captured the essence of darkness and light from a personal perspective and a relationship perspective. Symmetrical effects were used frequently to highlight the contrast as well as darker and lighter tones during the scenes. We shot the whole thing in an abandoned warehouse as it added a lot of realism to the shoot and was perfect for the opening scene. ”
https://youtu.be/OqcBJ-vVA9A
The black and white video, starts of very dark with impressive use of lighting, and incorporates very clever kaleidoscope effects, which draw you into the song. By contrast it ends with a completely white screen, using black and white to symbolise darkness and light. It compliments the vocal superbly and what a delicious vocal it is, the warmth in his voice is one thing but when he unleashes the falsetto, man, it is worth it just for that.
“Darkness Before Light was a song that I had wanted to do for sometime, I wanted to experiment with something sonically different from just R&B and pop whilst staying close to my roots.” Sam told us about the track.
“The writing was easy, I had been listening to a lot of old Irish folk hymes and wanted to create an introduction that was similar with just vocals. there was something really powerful about that to me. Just singing from the heart about all the shit and dark memories from the past. I envisioned there being this build up with live violins and guitars that would just drop into this beat. I started watching some performances from artists and bands that inspired me performing at stadiums and festivals like Coachella, Rock in Rio and Glastonbury. I remember thinking, I want to create this live energy in my song, I want it to feel like this could be played at a stadium anywhere in the world and people could identify with it. During the entire creative process I was constantly picturing myself on stage at these shows performing this record, as crazy as it sounds it really helped with structuring the song and figuring things out like where to put the guitar solo or where to bring in the outro. Darkness Before Light is a special song for me. It has many meanings and I hope people like it.”
SC Undercover blends influences of indie, dark pop and R & B offering something distinctly unique and relatable in today’s industry and after a string of performances in 2019, across Atlanta and at home in the UK, SC Undercover has also received widespread support. We think we will be hearing a lot more from SC Undercover, which would not be a bad thing.
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