Interview: The Imaginaries ride frustration into creative revolution

The Imaginaries are on to something. A swampy earth-shaker, their new song “Revival” more than lives up to its moniker ⏤ its blend of gospel, bluegrass, and indie-folk is nearly baptismal in nature. “Wash away my worries, ‘til they are no more / Fill me with your mercy and love forevermore,” Maggie McClure unthreads a siren-like enchantment, not unlike Alison Krauss’ offerings in 2000’s landmark O Brother, Where Art Thou? film. Her feathered songbird lead calls you forward, and their stylistic switch is an unexpected treat, veering into gasoline-doused third gear. It only makes sense that the song’s visual would steep into similar cinematic ground, mining noir-ish, sepia-toned filmmaking as an expressive model of redemption. To say the last few years have been rough is an understatement.

In the music video, directed by Reagan Elkins (with Intellego Media), the folk duo ⏤ of McClure and Shane Henry ⏤ dress to the nines as two outlaw bank robbers. “Preacher told me, told me / There gon’ come a day / Keep on walkin’, walkin’ / Down that narrow way,” they cower on the first verse, as if dodging a rain of bullets. They’re so hooked into such devilish ways they can’t do anything else but succumb and bathe in it (for now). Their unruly habits likely will end in tragedy, but for now, they’re shedding the past like a python careening with dazzling, side-winding shapes.

“We feel like ‘Revival’ is very special and a breakthrough of sorts for us. It’s certainly different from anything we’ve done in the past,” the band writes to B-Sides & Badlands over email. To-date, they’ve issued a holiday-centric record, 2019’s Hometown Christmas, and another one-off single called “Thinking ’bout You,” a more lilting, fairy dust affair. So, when the darkness descends around them for “Revival,” co-written with Nathan Angelo and Stephen Gause, it really does feel like something very, very special is emerging.

It also happens the new song arrives after years of toil and treading water. Roadblock after roadblock left them feeling  “frustrated, upset, saddened, confused,” they observe, “but really, the circumstances caught our attention more than anything and made us aware of how our life and plans are really out of our control at the end of the day, and what matters most is how we respond to the things that happen to us. In the spring, as one show after another was being cancelled, we had to quickly adapt to the ‘new normal.’ We decided it was best to go with the flow and try to make the most out of things instead of getting beat down.”

The bridge, with its fang-oozing venom, rings out as a plea for salvation, a call to finally change their misguided cycles. “Take me to the river for revival / Wash me clean, make me whole / Pull these devils from my soul,” they cry. The music has certainly given them as much, but truth be told, it has been their faith that’s kept them from spinning too far out of control. “Our faith has certainly kept us grounded and focused. We’ve leaned on each other a lot during this time. We’ve also been surrounded by family, which has helped tremendously,” they note. “Another thing that’s kept us grounded, focused, and sane is doing Facebook Live shows often. Having that to look forward to and being held accountable by our fans has helped keep our chins up.”

Below, the duo explore their angst, forthcoming album, cinematic inspirations, and songwriting evolution.

Is the video, in which you play a pair of bank robbers, a way for you to express your angst and other emotions?

McClure: Honestly, when we filmed the video, none of the surgeries, cancellations, or the pandemic were even a reality, so we weren’t consciously expressing angst. We just wanted to make sure that in the video we portrayed that we had a past life that we were making a shift away from toward a better future. We felt like the intro in the video really helps to tell that story.

“We have been set free,” you snarl on the song. How does this song set the stage for your album?

Henry: This song really does set the stage for our debut album. This collection of songs and recordings has been an exciting new extension of what we’ve done on our own and definitely has a freshness to it. We explore some different territories of Americana/singer-songwriter genres throughout the songs on the album. In our opinion, ‘Revival’s sister song on the album is the last track ‘You Remind Me.’

I know you wanted the video to marry ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ and Bonnie & Clyde. What was it about those stories that hooked you in?

McClure: I have been a longtime fan of the film ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ (and soundtrack). Shane is a big Bonnie & Clyde fan. We loved the eras of the two, the wardrobe, and themes. Both stories are about people on the run and on adventures and journeys. ‘O Brother’ hooked us with the story of searching for freedom (and the music and their pursuit of recording and performing really drew us in). With Bonnie & Clyde, the female-male duo really resonated with us.

You’ve noted how you wanted this song to signal growth. Did you feel yourselves growing through the process or was it a surprise to you?

McClure: Yes, we definitely felt ourselves growing through the songwriting and recording process. It’s cool to see what happens when you do something new, and there’s no preconceived notions of what something is supposed to be.

With your short film/video showing at festivals, how does that feel to have this work of art recognized in such a way?

Henry: It is a true honor to have the music video/short film featured in multiple film festivals across the globe. It is a good reminder that we are on the right track, and it’s nice for your work (especially something we put so much heart, soul, energy, time, and resources into) to be recognized and appreciated the way you always hoped it would be.

Does this make you want to do more videos of his caliber going forward?

Henry: Yes, it does. We have a few more music videos already completed ready to release in the near future directed by the same director. But yes, after doing this video of such high caliber, it has definitely raised the bar for us. We’ve decided that each video project we do must be better than the one before… whatever it takes. We’re always trying to take it up a notch. Working on these music videos has been an extremely fulfilling process for us to dream big and then get to see those stories come to life.

Given how many times you’ve attempted to get your debut LP going, how did current world affairs (COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, etc) play into how you wanted to approach the era finally?

McClure: When COVID-19 hit, we knew we needed to pause on rolling out the album release. Once we realized just how huge of an impact it was having and going to have for some time, we decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and release “Revival” for now, which would consist of the single, music video/short film, and live acoustic band performance for our new ‘Porch Sessions’ series. With the selection of the music video/short film in multiple film festivals this summer, that was even more confirmation that we were doing the right thing by putting it out. Now more than ever, people are on their phones and computers, and we felt like this song and the videos would provide some hope, encouragement, and distraction from everything going on right now.

How have you seen your songwriting shift within the last couple of years?

McClure: We have certainly grown as songwriters throughout the last couple of years, as well as artists, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we are both equal parts of [the band]. We both have a final say; we both have strong artistic opinions, and praise the Lord we’ve been able to work through petty arguments and such because we can see that the end result is so much bigger than we are as individuals. It’s been a beautiful awakening of synergy over the last couple of years. We’ve become more open, less set in our ways (because the older we get the more we realize we didn’t have it all figured out), and more experimental in our songwriting processes.

What “old habits and hindrances” did you find yourselves needing to shed/discard in your life?

Henry: Preconceived notions that we weren’t going to “make it”… that we weren’t “good enough,” negative thoughts, settling for something less, thinking we’ve tried everything… All the things that creep into your mind when you’ve been pursuing something with your whole being for 15 years and keep running into one block after another.

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