Austin R&B outfit Nané descends into the darkness with a stylishly cool music video for their latest single, “Wolverine.” With seductively haunting vocals and screeching guitars, the track explores a new facet of the band’s Western soul sound, complete with moody black-and-white visuals that revel in the song’s drama.
With only a handful of singles under their belt, the group has made big waves since its inception in early 2019. Frontman Daniel Sahad named Nané for a term of endearment used by his family in the Dominican Republic. The name weaves warmth and a familial spirit right into the band’s funk-infused DNA. He’s joined by Ian Green on guitar, Scott McIntyre on bass, and JaRon Marshall on keys. With a fondness for psychedelic guitars and danceable grooves, Nané’s crafts a richly textured sound, reminiscent of soul groups like Alabama Shakes. But Sahad’s charismatic vocals are the real treat as he moves smoothly from alluring half-whispered falsettos to powerful howls.
On “Wolverine,” Sahad showcases his range over a thrumming bass line as he wrestles with the darker side of the human psyche.
The Moyo Oyelola-directed music video follows a young man forced to face down the mirror version of himself, represented by a twin who literally tethers the pair together, like a scene out of Jordan Peele’s “Us.” The shadow self leads a troop of masked demons, who wreak havoc on the protagonist, shredding the wispy plastic walls of his home with their bare hands and ripping into a grotesque feast while he sits trussed up between them. Marked by his stillness, he seems disaffected by the chaos erupting around him — but there’s a simmering resentment just perceptible in his eyes. Moments of release come with shots of the protagonist screaming underwater, but Nané takes care to let the tension build before reaching a resolution.
“In this video, we watch the internal struggle of our hero as he battles with his demons. They destroy his home, tie him up and celebrate their victory, until our hero finally summons the courage to take ownership of himself and ultimately burn down their playground,” Sahad said. In the final stark shot, the character slowly rises from the ashes and gazes upward, finally in control.
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