For Justin Sullivan, Night Shop has been something of a blank slate. After years of touring with Kevin Morby and his short-lived band The Babies among other groups, Sullivan took a break from performing to focus on his mental health, with a debut record under the moniker Night Shop eventually rolling out late in 2018. His latest album Forever Night builds upon that foundation, enlisting friends like Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy, Jess Williamson, and Woods’ Jarvis Taveniere to help express the latest chapter in Sullivan’s journey.
In fact, the album’s latest single “Let Me Let It Go” addresses the relief of starting over head on, with the upbeat, often Spoon-like anthem relishing in a sense of freedom. “I was inspired by Dante and Beatrice and the concept of courtly love,” Sullivan adds, “and I think for me personally, it's about writing my own version of that kind of love.”
The video for the track demonstrates a different kind of freedom—one of Sullivan freeing himself from the dictates of directors Jeff Davenport and Cooper Kenward. About a minute into the visual, Sullivan finishes singing the first verse to the camera before scampering off as the filmmakers beckon him back, spending the rest of the video sprinting through LA. “I think we just wanted to offer a sense of escape and abandon that comes with both loving someone and also surrendering our attachment to a certain outcome in regards to that love,” Sullivan explains, tying everything together. “I'm just trying to get at the proper expression of a feeling; in this case, a deep yearning. So I think visually, you want to complement that sense. A desire to see and feel everything and escape from the smallness of your own thoughts.”
Watch the clip below.
