In Thomas Hien’s video for “Slow Walking In The Sun,” the singer-songwriter displays a breezy brand of AM gold that evokes the days of the long-gone format of telling a simple story and telling it well.

The video features Hien double exposed over serene coastal scenes while working his way through the inner-sanctums of the city. Though Hien is quite literally completing the titular activity of the track, but there’s an underlying bed of wistfulness to it – Hien seems to be longing for a cultural simplicity that would’ve fostered such a song from the likes of Paul Simon. The video also features Hien’s wife and daughter, spliced between the visual cognitive dissonance of Hien’s presence on screen.

“I was going to LA to work with Jay Mohr on a pilot we were developing,” said director of the video, David Doobinin. “The shoot got cancelled and that gave Thomas and I the window to make this music video. I shot it on my iPhone which is fitting because 20 years ago I directed a video for Thomas’ first band in Munich with a Super 8 camera. We had no real plan for this video. We met at his house and just began. I love the scenes with Thomas’ wife and his daughter. They’re all such honest moments. The one thing I knew was that I wanted to try and capture the raw beauty and deceptive simplicity of Thomas’ music.”

Hien also reminds one of Robert Earl Keene, painting a cultural landscape with some tragedy, but ultimately coming out on top. With subdued vocals and a hushed guitar accompanying him, Hien is as idyllic as the day set before him in his music.

Hien’s latest record Late Night Conversations, features “Slow Walking In The Sun.” For more information, visit Hien’s site.

– Jake Tully