Declan McKenna kicked off a new series of live performances in collaboration with the Youtube music platform Vevo with an explosive version of his song ‘Rapture,’ which is the leading single from his latest album ‘Zeros,’ which was released in 2020. As the frustrating efforts of the UK government to contain and control the coronavirus crisis, live music continues to suffer and artists are continuing to turn to online platforms to express their music directly. It is very nice to see McKenna backed by a full band in the Vevo Studio for this version of ‘Rapture,’ and the image is certainly a taster of what a McKenna show may look like when they are hopefully able to take place later in 2021.
The performance sees brandishing a yellow telecaster and his band are neatly co-ordinated in white in an image which is so very Beatles, with McKenna looking like Lennon, McCartney and Harrison all rolled into one and the band looking like something off the Abbey Road album cover. McKenna is also seen with a rather extensive pedalboard in front of him which he uses to achieve the exciting sonic experimentation which his latest album has benefitted hugely from. Where ‘What Do You Think About The Car,’ was appealing in its rawness and relative simplicity, ‘Zeros,’ is glamorously decorated with a whole pallet of sounds achieved by effects pedals which take McKenna’s neat guitar playing to the next level.
Declan McKenna has perhaps been more eager to engage with his fans on a direct level than other artists throughout this pandemic duet the raw nature and political content of his music, which is always relevant and always needing to be heard. Another advantage that McKenna may have other some of his competitors is his age. While being left behind in almost every arena throughout, young people have looked with mere bemusement as their elders struggled to get to grips with the tools of the digital age, scrambling onto social media and zoom calls after years of berating the importance of their children’s Skype calls and online communications.
A familiarity with digital technology must have been an unexpected blessing for McKenna and other artists his age who have found it much easier to continue with their music, and interacting meaningfully with fans as well despite the total ban on live music in person. Of course this is no substitute for real life but it must have been amusing for McKenna when the pandemic hit so see artists with many more years and experience in the industry struggling to find a way to continue, for McKenna it was simple, the tools to release music and interact with fans remotely were right there in front of him, and he had the advantage of already knowing how to use them.
