Mike Clerk – The Air in Here (Wardlaw Music) 
Release Date: Out Now
This is a great song but I have
to admit to having been transfixed by the video before fully engaging with the
music. Mike Clerk didn’t write ‘The Air in Here’ about the isolating effects of
the COVID pandemic and the video wasn’t meant to capture the energy of being
stuck in the same four walls for over a year but, as luck would have it, this
is the song and video that captures that spirit. The forlorn acoustic strum and
piano melody has a real Elbow meets the Courteeners vibe about it as Clerk
opens with the line “I’m sat here waiting for death”. The song builds to the
kind of anthemic indie chorus that makes you want to do better, to be better,
to get somewhere else as you are drawn deeper and deeper into Clerk’s world. The
constant scroll of the video, passing through different versions of Clerk’s
lounge just highlights the monotony of each day despite trying to fill it with
drumming, karate, football, cards, guitar playing and doom scrolling through
the news. In fact, the only thing wrong with the video is that it doesn’t
depict anywhere near as much masturbation or junk food as a realistic study of ‘man
living on his own for a year’ should feature. The song is perfect though.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/mikeclerkmusic