Jealous of the Birds Releases ‘Young Neanderthal’ Music Video

Jealous of the Birds has released a music video for her latest single, ‘Young Neanderthal’.

The high-energy track is the first that the Northern-Irish indie rocker has released from her upcoming album, Peninsula. The electric guitar is the breakout star of the song: ‘Young Neanderthal’ features an unforgettable solo and a sharp, catchy riff that echoes its melody.

The singer-songwriter, whose real name is Naomi Hamilton, directed and edited the the music video for the track herself. Set in Hamilton’s apartment and shot in a warm sepia tone, the video is a stop-motion animation of a neanderthal figurine.

Throughout the video, the neanderthal toy wanders around the apartment and meets a number of hideous ends: It gets flushed down the drain, shut in the pages of a book, and attacked by Hamilton’s kitten. Meanwhile, the musician works in the background, apparently recording ‘Young Neanderthal’ itself.

The song and its video are an allegory for growing up: “The young Neanderthal character became a metaphor for any naive ways of thinking and passively reacting to circumstance, and so I wanted the song to act as a defiant resignation letter to playing that role,” Hamilton said.

Though Hamilton masterminded its music video, ‘Young Neanderthal’ was not a solo operation. Recording the track, Hamilton worked with David Wrench, producer for The XX, David Byrne and others.

Hamilton said working with Wrench was natural because “the fact that, along with being a producer and mixing engineer, he’s also a musician, meant that there was an affinity between us throughout the whole creative process.

“Not only does he have an intimate understanding of the concerns of the artist, but also the language and skill to facilitate their experience in the studio."

Peninsula is set to come out on September 18. It’ll be the second full-length release for Jealous of the Birds, whose 2016 album Parma Violets received critical acclaim. The TV adaptation of Normal People by Sally Rooney recently featured 'Dandelion', a track off Parma Violets, in its soundtrack.

Check out the music video for ‘Young Neanderthal’ on Youtube below.