Brighton-based Irish artist Matt Taylor drops raw video for 'No Matter What I Say'

Westport-born, Brighton-based musician Matt Taylor has released a music video with Tamara Arruti for his song 'no matter what i say.'

The song is taken from the singer-songwriter's EP released earlier this year, April 13th. The melancholy track excavates the emotional caverns of breaking-up and the slow cracking of the heart.

Verified
A couple weeks ago, @TamaraArruti created a beautiful music video for “no matter what i say” & I’m so excited to announce that it'll be out on Tuesday!#musicvideo #newmusic #instamusic #dancing pic.twitter.com/tRuKotnw9B

— Matt Taylor (@ItsMattTaylor) July 1, 2022

On the making of the self-produced song, Taylor says: "I was getting frustrated with myself, I would replay situations over in my head trying to think what would have changed if I had acted differently in situations. I just wanted a song that I didn’t have to worry about sounding 'cool' or 'empowering', I wanted a moment where I could allow myself to be a bit pathetic.

"I find sad songs like this quite difficult to write, because it obviously means a lot to me, but I get worried others will get bored of listening to something that sounds quite depressing."

The video is visually stunning. The two women on screen are clothed in neutral colours, and keep painfully blank expressions throughout the song. The moments where they intertwine prompt confusion as to whose limbs are whose. It's a visual and sonic confusion of self in the pain of loving and losing.

Amongst the lyrics "break my heart tonight / come lay beside me one more time / run to cut the ropes / I'll only make it difficult", the two figures on screen are almost indistinguishable.

Their anguish at being so close is magnified by the fact that they're never close enough. We never see the women actually kiss or touch in a way that seems satisfying or romantic. It's a pull and push without resolution until they're finally separated at the end.

Arruti comments that "creating this visual was a very deep & soul-searching to me. We started from the base of a relationship break up and took it to a deeper level. Taking clothes away as striping layers down. Walls we’ve been build to protect our souls from pain and become vulnerable to one another. In any kind of relationship; friends, lovers, family…"

"Some finally feel safe to be vulnerable, some get scared of the realness of their soul nakedness,' Tamara adds. "Their reaction is to rewind and focus solely on themselves because that might be 'home' to them. The only home they ever knew."

The powerful video encapsulates the desperation to connect and the warring instinct to distance yourself before you have the chance to be hurt in a relationship.

As Arruti says, "it doesn’t matter how hard we try to help somebody. First they need to accept the help, the love. Be open to possibility."

Watch the raw video for 'no matter what i say.' below: