PREMIERE: Watch Up the Chain’s surreal “For To Give Away” video

This is a song for a rainy day.  “For To Give Away,” taken from Up the Chain‘s second full-length Seeds & Thorns, represents the band’s sonically softer and more soulful side though the lyrics and the video, which we’re premiering here today, are full of inner and outer conflict.

The Philadelphia chameleonic band’s front man Reed Kendall is shown in alternating frames of moving through the city with a letter in his hand and singing in front of a brick wall (is that The Gun Shop, home of Commonwealth Choir?), while friends and fellow local musicians make cameo appearances (can you spot Ali Wadsworth, Ron Gallo and Justin Pellechia?).  He passes a couple breaking up on Girard, two men arguing about a fender bender in an intersection and a guy experiencing some road rage in a van.  Meanwhile, Kendall tries a few times to mail his letter before ending up on the banks of the Schuylkill.

The song itself is a beautiful slow jam, featuring a heavier emphasis on bass and keys along with on-point appearances by soulful horns in the background.  Its smoothness belies the inner turmoil of the lyrics but it will definitely get you feeling bluesy.

Watch the video for “For To Give Away” below and welcome the band home from a European tour at Bourbon and Branch on November 7th. Tickets and information can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar.