Around this time last year, we checked in with New Orleans–based duo Video Age who were accidentally expressing every single emotion they’ve ever felt on a single song titled “Is It Really Over?” The track would later materialize on their LP Away From the Castle, which will be celebrating its one-year anniversary at the end of October. As a premature celebration of its birthday, the band’s Ross Farbe recently reinterpreted the record’s title track as a duet with alt-country songwriter Esther Rose rather than bandmate Ray Micarelli at a gig in Nashville.
Today we’re getting not only a studio-recorded version of that countrified interpretation (retitled “Out in the Country”), but also a live video of the original performance. The new name suits the revised version of the track, as the composition shifts from a neo-psych-era new wave track in the hands of Video Age to a more Nashville-friendly sound as Rose harmonizes with Farbe on the acoustic ballad. The video quite literally spotlights this collaboration, with the pair appearing on stage together in front of a stark black backdrop.
Check it out below, and stream the studio version here. You can also revisit another acoustic Video Age live recording—their 2020 “Neighborhoods” performance of “Pleasure Line,” filmed in Micarelli’s backyard—here.
