On Our Radar: Sam Tudor offers a much-needed escape from reality with "Everybody's Keeping Their Word"

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      There will be those who argue that we’re a little late on this one. After all, Sam Tudor’s video for marvellously laid-back “Everybody’s Keeping Their Word” made its worldwide debut back on July 27. You might remember that as a time when you were strutting around Wreck Beach wearing nothing but a vintage-style Coppertone facemask and a smile that no one could see because of COVID-Fucking-19.

      Or maybe you never made it to the beach. But instead spent lockdown cooped up in a garden-suite basement in East Vancouver, Windmaker Clip six-inch fan running double time, and all for nothing because sometimes it’s both the heat and the humidity.

      Anyhow, when it debuted the video for “Everybody’s Keeping Their Word” somehow felt wrong. Like pretty much everything else in 2020.

      The reason? Mostly because it was set in the dead of winter, replete with the snow caves, roaring fireplaces, and an all-terrain vehicle seemingly beamed in from the planet Hoth.

      Maybe it’s just us, but white-out landscapes and summer don’t go together any better than beach movies and the month of December.

      So we waited to revisit things. And thank God we did, because with “Everybody’s Keeping Their Word” Tudor continues to establish himself as one of the city’s great and wholly original talents.

      Admittedly, we’ve got weeks and weeks and months before our annual two-day snowpocalypse, but the weather has indeed turned enough that “Everybody’s Keeping Their Word” seems to make a little more sense.

      With grey days upon us and the dead leaves starting to hit the ground, the song hits the sweet spot between world-weary optimism and sad-about-everything melancholy. It’s also pretty much perfect, especially when the sax solo sweeps in during the chicken coop sequence. That's when things jump from merely beautiful to devastatingly sublime.

      But back to the visual side of things. For the next couple of months, it’s going to be all about holding on. The endless days of West Coast rains are coming, COVID is going nowhere anytime soon, and the world will continue to be a shit sandwich like no other time in our memories.

      If nothing else, to watch “Everybody’s Keeping Their Word” is to be reminded that everything looks spectacular and pristine after a snowfall, especially if you can get beyond Vancouver city limits.

      Let Sam Tudor take you to a better place. And for the love of God take off those shorts. The summer of 2020 is officially over. Thank fucking God.

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