Hannah McPhillimy, the mastermind behind ferna, has shown herself to be unique through her distinctive sound, something that merges organic with electric, creating songs that evoke deeply emotional responses from her audience. She has performed alongside the likes of Foy Vance, SOAK and The Gloaming, as well as at SXSW and RTE’s Other Voices. On top of this, for her first official release, Hannah took home the NI Music Prize for Single of the Year 2022 in November. Following this, singles ‘Morning After’ and ‘New City’ have caught the attention of Tom Robinson at 6 Music.
For her new video for ‘go quietly’ a track taken from her recent debut album ‘understudy’, she has created something that can be consumed in landscape, portrait and virtual reality mediums. Her new visuals take up a concept that pushes forward what music videos can mean for artistic expression. The track, itself, features ferna’s captivating vocals that will be sure to grab your attention alongside the track's glittery instrumentation. It’s a colossal showcase of sound that feels near cinematic.
Speaking about the single, she says: “The idea behind this video was not only to convey the shape of the song but also represent something of the whole album. Because of the multiple versions - portrait, landscape & VR - there should be an inbuilt sense for the viewer that there is always a wider perspective that we don’t necessarily see in the moment. That felt fitting for “Understudy”, which is all about who is missing from the conversation and the sides of the story we don’t hear very often.
In my ideal world, people would start with the portrait version, which is framed as an intimate conversation between artist and viewer, before getting glimpses of others in the landscape version and then the full whack in the VR. However, each format is standalone if people are dipping in and out too.”
ferna takes a highly individual approach to all aspects of her musical journey. She’s shown herself to be an ardent force in the industry over just a few years, with her continued innovation and experimentation giving her exactly what it takes to be more than ordinary.
Comments