PREMIERE: Coleraine's ferna highlights displacement in video for 'New City'

Just after taking home Single of The Year at the NI Music Prize, ferna (aka Hannah McPhillimy) shares a lovely new single and accompany video for 'New City'.

In 2017, Coleraine native McPhillimy moved to the US for two years to complete a Masters in Music Composition at the University of Michigan. This experience inspired both the sound and message of 'New City'- the third release from her debut album Understudy coming Spring 2023.

Ferna explains that the song deals with "trying to hold onto a sense of who you are, while also shedding an old skin. It's the tension between those things." The track is made of colourful synths and homemade drum kits (constructed from a suitcase) along with soft vocals.

The music video is a cinematic masterpiece that captures the same themes and feelings, although it takes place in a different location. The director, Alice Eugenie, provided a different interpretation of the track. "I gave her the freedom to interpret the song for herself and I love the result," ferna says.

The video stars Verity Pease as Eliza Frew, a 20-something woman who returns to a seemingly boring hometown. She struggles with readjusting to her old life, conveying a sense of displacement as she watches her friends gather from outside a window.

"One of the main themes I wanted to explore was the feeling of stuck-ness and overwhelm. I played on the origins of the song’s creation in the US by flipping the concept round, creating a character who has returned to seaside suburbia in Northern Ireland," said Eugenie, a fellow North Coaster to ferna.

"Although the character is dealing with a different move to what I wrote about, all the questions are the same: how do I reconcile my past with the life I have now? Is one better than the other? Is there such a thing as a 'fresh start'?" explained ferna.

Watch the Hot Press video premiere for 'New City' below.