The Very Best Share Video for "Hear Me" Featuring Vampire Weekend’s Chris Baio

Singer Esau Mwamwaya and producer Johan Hugo (of Radioclit) will release another album as the Very Best next spring. Recorded in M’dala Chikowa Village, Mali, the as-of-yet untitled album follows 2012′s MTMTMK.

The duo have also shared the video for a new track titled “Hear Me”, which features Vampire Weekend‘s Chris Baio on bass. Directed by Hugo, it’s a time-lapse look at M’dala Chikowa Village; check it out below.

In a press release, the duo discussed the inspiration for “Hear Me”:

We wrote this song in May 2014, only days before the Malawi general elections. It was also the 50th anniversary for Malawi independence from colonial rule. One day we where sitting outside the house listening to the radio and Joyce Banda (the president that day) was talking about something to do with the election and progress, or lack of progress for Malawi as a nation. we put an iPhone next to the radio and recorded some her voice. thats the voice you can hear in the beginning of the song. Esau really wanted to write a song about the corruption, poverty, struggle of Malawi, and how frustrated he was about the fact that very little has changed since independence. We recorded the whole song that day, and the ext day we asked the local church choir to come in and record some choir vocals for it. As with most vocals and instrumentation on this record, we recorded them outdoors, on the beach, singing the bridge and last chorus with Esau. Back in London a month later Chris Baio from Vampire Weekend came in and played bass on the song.

And here’s what they had to say about its video:

Between writing songs and recording we would climb the mountains above the lake and set the camera up to take time lapses. any time we wanted a break we would bring the camera on a tripod to the shop or to someones small house and always leave it taking time lapses. we would sit for hours in the dark while the camera clicked away, working on a song, tweaking melodies or words. mosquitos everywhere. Sometimes we would leave the camera running and trek back to the house, hoping none would find it. 

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