Americana Highways brings you this video premiere of the song “Grey Boxes” from the Chris J Connolly’s album Moving Maps. The video features Chris J Connolly singing, and playing both guitar and piano. The song was produced by Scott Simon & Chris J Connolly, engineered and mixed by Scott Simon, while the video cinematography and editing was also finessed by Scott Simon.
The video is a soulful solo acoustic guitar and vocal performance set amidst a room full of floor lights and hushed shadows. Connolly asks sorrowfully “how can one grey box leave so many alone?” and we are carried along on waves of mortality awareness in the metaphorical worries about people being locked into smartphone isolation. Connolly expresses his lyrical hopes that we’ll appreciate reality and life and put that phone down, over understated gently played acoustic guitar.
Grey Boxes is about the decline in social interaction, and a lack of awareness of our surroundings. It’s about how the picture of the tree that you took and how good it looks is more important than the existence of the tree itself. It’s about how this reliance, dependence, and obsession is dangerous, both mentally and physically… and our yearning to go back, not to a place where technology was not important, but to where technology was a tool, and people were just people. — Chris Connolly
Order your copy of the album here: https://www.chrisjconnolly.com/ while you’re watching right here:
Chris, I love the song. Your style reminds me of the great James Taylor! Love it.