Music Review // Ian North "Malahat"

Ian North tells an interesting story both within the instrumental acoustics of "Malahat" as a song and as a video which takes us on a nostalgic trip through nature.   As this song begins you can hear acoustic notes being played which are then joined by the strums of chords.  I try to picture this in my mind and imagine it can be done with one person playing one acoustic guitar, but since I don't have quite the visual idea I'd like for that I have to admit that this is likely two different guitar parts being played together.

As you get into the music video the way this song is acoustic and has mountains and winding roads makes me think of John Denver right away.  At first glance you might think you're just seeing these scenes of nature and not know why, but eventually you'll begin to see them overlap as Ian North takes you on a journey throughout this music video.  This is a music video in two parts: one about the past and one about the present.  As this is done through nature it's always interesting to me to see the differences in how things can change over the years.

The scenes can split at one point, showing a car driving on the road both in the present and past, and it's not just the way that this reminds you of how things were different- how much technology has changed and maybe not for the better, but it reminds me of how nature has been built over by man.   When I was younger my grandparents had a farm and then that land eventually got developed into housing.  Now bears will show up so often and people will get upset but you have to consider that it was home to the bears first.

For me, there is something about this music video that not only makes me long for the good old days but wants to appreciate the time we are living in now a little bit more because in twenty years we might have even less of nature out there to explore.   Though the overall sound of "Malahat" can be relaxing, it has a nice tempo to it as well, where you can put it on, drive around and just embrace the world around you without getting so wrapped up in technology that seems to drive more people today than anything else.