Solomon Cole is a native of Waiheke, an island in the South Pacific that’s part of New Zealand. With a population of a little more than 9,000, it may not be the optimal place for a talented, blues-based singer and guitarist to orchestrate a career. But it’s Cole’s version of a “bohemian paradise.” And ground zero for the launch of his upcoming LP, Ain’t Got Time To Die, due later this year.
You get a mysterious taste of Waiheke in the video for “Get Up Get On,” the album’s latest single. “It features just a little bit of this island that runs through the arteries and DNA of this record,” says Cole. “Five minutes from my home is a beautiful native bush and ocean that were once home to early Maori tribes. I’m a New Zealand Maori, and the spot in the video is a magical place, where you can feel something else used to inhabit the area.”
Cole also notes that it’s a place where beauty and sorrow comingle—and you can sense that in video and the song. “It’s in the dirt, the bush and the sand … a feeling of melancholy,” he says. “I’m paying tribute to it, along with other visceral images, like snake handling, chain gangs and the grave site. The bush reminds me every week that nothing lasts. But I ain’t got time to die just yet.”
We’re proud to premiere Solomon Cole’s “Get Up Get On.”
—Hobart Rowland
