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First Watch: Night Beds, 'Even If We Try'

Courtesy of the artist

This is a languid gem of a song paired with very disturbing video. The music, "Even If We Try," is by Night Beds, the project of Winston Yellen. Yellen is a Colorado Springs musician now making his home in Nashville. In fact the songs on the debut album from Night Beds, Country Sleep, were written and partially recorded in Tennessee at the former Sycamore Homestead in Tennessee of Johnny Cash.

The video for "Even If We Try" stars Winston Yellen as a loner at a party that turns pretty awful. He's abused and painted with lipstick, and all the while the beauty of the song plays on. The video was directed by Rick Alverson, who directed another disturbing recent video for Sharon Van Etten's song "Magic Chords."

Of this Night Beds video Rick Alverson said, "Given how gentle and beautiful the song is, I wanted to make something adamantly in contrast to that." That goes hand in hand with Winston Yellen's thoughts on the pairing of uncomfortable imagery and the lulling tune: "I wanted the video to be dark and devastating, out-of-bounds and animalistic."

Country Sleep will be out in February on Dead Oceans.

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In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.
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