France’s Slim Paul is a troubadour of the streets. A bluesman with a penchant for folk ballads and protest rock. With his raspy drawl, he may remind you of artists like Tom Waits, with the hip-hop attitude of Everlast. All these musical sides of the artist can be heard in the track “Tomorrow’s Nest”. The track, loosely inspired by “I heard the angels singin’” by Reverend Gary Davis, is a dark folk rock track with ferocious blues licks and lyrics addressing “a cruel world where Man suffers, dejected, harassed by a capitalist, racist and violent system.” And bringing the track to life is a cinematic video.
Taking us into a seemingly post-apocalyptic world, where a small group of survivors are living among the wreckage. We soon come to realize that this place we’re in is not far from the modern world, as a group of hooded thugs come to terrorize these poor souls, chasing them out of the car lot they are holed up in. Paul himself plays a role as one of the vagrants, watching over the violence and becoming a victim of it himself. As he raises himself from the ground, he sings “you’ve been killing me slowly with your credit card debt, I tried to keep it up you brought down the hatchet”, putting emphasis on the cruelty of the capitalist system.
The end brings a sign of hope, as the downtrodden have taken a stand and rounded up the thugs who attacked them, communicating that there is hope for people to rise up and change things. Here’s hoping. Watch the video above, and stream the song here!