Back in August alt pop songwriter May Rosa released her latest tale of nostalgia in ‘Gresham Street‘, to her biggest reception yet, adding to a growing body of work that recalls Kate Bush and Lana Del Rey. Now we’re delighted to bring you a first look at the song’s new video, directed by May Rosa and Laurie Esdale.
May Rosa’s taste for 80s synths and glamour has been evident throughout her releases and ‘Gresham Street’ is no different. A track about finding happiness in simplicity when life seems to be taking another path, it rose from her return to Belfast from London. May Rosa’s vocals are filled with drama and wonder alongside the moody instrumentals and production, which bring you into the heavily stylised world of her own making.
Her dedication to the theatrical shines from every corner of ‘Gresham Street’s video, with lavish sets and costumes that mix 90s cinema and religious iconography. The artist appears through a wash of candles, draped fabric and angel wings that bring out the melodrama and unwavering vision that May Rosa has built into her music.
“Gresham Street is inspired by religious iconography, renaissance paintings and 90s films, such as The Virgin Suicides & Romeo & Juliet. It’s an idea we’ve had for years & we thought now would be the perfect time to create it. I didn’t want the video to be a literal representation of the song; I think the lyrics portray a strong enough picture. I wanted it to be surreal and dreamlike.
As both of us are in the arts industry, work has been scarce, so we both had time to focus solely on the video. Laurie is primarily a production designer, so was really excited to create this world, dedicating a lot of time and energy into making a cloudy sky, building a shrine, sourcing antiques, arranging flowers etc. My Mum is great at dressmaking and sewing, so we had her (God love her like – I think she wishes we became accountants. Her house was a mess for weeks) on board for costume. We also had an amazing MUA, Sarah Hampstead for the Virgin Mary scene.
As we were both living at home and the video was shot there, we didn’t want to risk interacting with a lot people, so decided to keep the crew as small as possible & just brought Thomas Pollock on board as DOP. It was definitely a challenge; we could have done with about 5 more people helping and more space. However, it was a lot of craic and we all learnt so much. It’s so easy to feel down and unfulfilled at the moment as a creative, so I also think making this video really helped morale, as we had something to focus on.“
May Rosa
