Premiere: Will Rainier runs away from life in new video, ‘Are You Waving Goodbye’

Life is just a collection of hellos and goodbyes. A stack of polaroids we revisit from time to time. We meander through existence, chasing one fleeting moment after another. There never seems to be enough time. “Are you stuck in one place or moving way too fast? Have you given up on making anything last?” ponders Will Rainier on a new song. “Are You Waving Goodbye,” premiering today on B-sides & Badlands, finds the singer-songwriter bolting away from the everyday inconveniences for something else, something just peeking over the horizon.

Drawing from his frequent trips to Lopez Island, nestled in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state, Rainier combs together a moving sketch about what it means to ebb and flow through life. The small remote island provided a glimpse into the human experience, as he witnessed “drivers wave at each other in passing,” he tells us, “and I started to think, ‘Are people waving hello or waving goodbye?’ I guess it’s a song about trying to run away from your problems. We all seem to be running to or from something, don’t we?”

“Are you flying high or have you come down low / Never sure just where you should go,” sings Rainier, before handing over the reins to Jen Garrett for a few lines. Garrett’s voice carries through with the brutally thorny nature of the story, as she sings, “You’re making up the rules and then breaking them too / Everything’s just a great big game to you.”

In the accompanying music video, filmed in collaboration with Christine Hager, Rainier and Garrett celebrate everyday living. They’re seen traipsing down the street, waving with glowing smiles, with the camera soaking in shots of the cityscape or leaves lying lifeless on the concrete. Life, as Rainier sees it, is about the small things, the things that don’t seem to have any real meaning. The cat sneaking through a newspaper tent or city structures whizzing by makes you feel alive, and that should be cherished.

“Are You Waving Goodbye” samples Rainier’s new album, Wobble in the Moon, out June 30 via Basement Tapes Records.

Peep the music video below.

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