The Artist Explains: Jeff Carl - 'Buried in New York'

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Jeff Carl talks us through his intimate visuals for ‘Buried in New York’, where he reimagines the processes that played a part in getting over an ex boyfriend.
Jeff Carl’s ‘Buried in New York’ is an emotive alternative pop offering that ebbs and flows between layered and spacious dynamics; seeing Carl’s smooth vocal rise from a combination of gentle, twinkly production, suspenseful synth, and edgy, bass-driven beats.

Jeff Carl Explains:
Where was the video for Buried In New York filmed? 
It was all shot in New York City! We shot in my brother’s Bushwick loft, the rooftop of his building, the back of my rental car, this amazing nightclub in Manhattan called Veil, and the penthouse of the Bryant Park Hotel! 

How does the video connect with the song?
We designed the arc of the video to match the arc of the song, taking you through the real-life process I went through getting over my ex. The video starts very literal and cold in the world of empty hook-ups and ends more abstract and chaotic, matching the internal tug-of-war between memories of a truer love and the battle to move on as a stronger independent individual. 

Are there any behind the scenes stories you could let us in on? 
1. The necklace utilized in the video was the real necklace my ex gifted me. That’s cringey and I know it, but it’s real, and I love it. 

2. Eddie, my friend who plays my ex boyfriend in the video, is definitely straight, and his girlfriend was on set for most of the scenes we were basically making out in. They were both sports, and Eddie would jokingly run over after cutting and kiss her so sweetly. So at one point, I ran over to her too and was like, “I FEEL LIKE JUST TO EVEN OUT ALL THE WEIRDNESS YOU AND I SHOULD KISS TOO.” So we did, and we all laughed and kept rolling. They’re the best. 

3. Sergio, who played my hookup in the beginning of the video, I did NOT know ahead of time, so that was a very funny intro. He showed up the first night of shooting, we hugged and introduced ourselves, and then within five minutes, undressed and spent the next seven hours in our underwear together. I’d be, like, all scandalous in bed with fog machines going, then the next second lights-up being like “mhmm, wow, so you moved around a lot as a kid?” It was hilarious, and he was such a good sport and very professional about everything. 

4. The whole project was basically a home-made family project. My younger brother, Ryan Carl, directed the video. My older brother, John Carl, shot the video and coloured it. His wife, Mary VandeRiet (now Carl), my sister in law, edited the video. My friend Eddie Tyler, who played my ex-boyfriend, produced the music video too, and his girlfriend Kat Radka was responsible for styling and some prop design as well. Our friends were the extras, and my friend Charity Baroni was the choreographer for the dance sequence at the end! It was an amazing team that put countless hours into the project. 

Can you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used? 
The ultimate story of the song and music video is of moving on. Of diving as deep as you can into the emotions and memories you’ve been avoiding so you can properly process everything and move on with your life. We tried to fairly accurately portray the process through the arc of the video. Begins with avoidance and numbing coping mechanisms. Takes you through the realisation of pain and acceptance. And ultimately leads to the greatest battle of all, choosing to stop fighting the current, letting yourself dive in deep to all the emotions, good and bad, leading you to the final fork in the road: whether to stay lost and swirling forever or to own exactly what reality is, to leave the past in the past and move on stronger and more whole than before, staring confidently at the scary blank slate of the future. 

Is there a message the video is trying to convey? 
At its core, the song and video were created as part of a processing tool for me to move on from my ex, to close that chapter for good. A relationship ending isn’t the end. How you choose to process and remember the relationship and how you choose to move on is the final chapter of the relationship. I hope this video can encourage others to face the feelings they’ve been running from, so they can be more whole and unstuck. 

And yes, on a more zoomed out level, this video is of a gay relationship, so I guess I hope it can be just one more tiny addition to the growing pile of gay artists’ work giving representation to a whole people group’s experience and portraying it as simply as what it is: normal.

Interview feature by Karla Harris

’Buried in New York’ is available now via SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Tidal, Deezer, and Google Play.