Boombox Blitz: Lui Hill haunted by demons in ‘5000 Miles’ video
Hill worms his way through the LA streets in starkly-lit debut music video.
Welcome to Boombox Blitz, an artist spotlight series showcasing overlooked singers, songwriters and musicians who are quietly taking over the world.
Misery often yields genuine, bone-deep songwriting. It’s an invigorating rush, really, bending one’s metal state around cleansing, life-affirming storytelling as to unleash devilish creatures from the clutches of your own skull. It can take some time, but we all undergo necessary darkness to then flourish under the guise of a new beginning. Pop newcomer Lui Hill found himself trapped beneath the rubble of his life, seemingly snowballing exponentially, and he almost lost his identity. The singer-songwriter unpacks his traumatic journey on “5000 Miles,” a starkly-lit, R&B-flung debut single, accompanied with a rather unnerving visual.
The clip leaves the viewer uneasy, questioning who is in control. “I wrote this track during a transitional phase in my life, one where I was coming out of a really dark place and just finally starting to see and feel that things would actually get better again,” he says. In a cold sweat, Hill meanders the dank Los Angeles streets at night, a ghoulish presence tracking him down, bloodthirsty and treacherous. His womanly counterpart is terrifying, anchored by tense and troubling gazes at the camera. Feeling a bit fearful and strange, yet?
To pull himself out of the abyss, he hop-scotched over to South Africa, a trip which restored his psyche and fueled newfound creative freedom. “I don’t agree that people who travel are running away from themselves,” he muses. “I think it helps you to get to know yourself better. Create distance, and you get closer to the core of things.”
Watch below:
