premiere: mark clennon shares visuals for his single, don’t start a fire

I recently got introduced to the work of Toronto-based artist, Mark Clennon through his single “Don’t Start A Fire” from his upcoming EP Foreign. What caught my attention about Mark is the honesty and fresh approach in his writing, especially about topics that are all too familiar. So you can imagine my excitement when he sent the visuals to the song. In the video, we see Mark dealing with the emotions of isolation after being abandoned without notice by a person who got his hopes up. 

I had a chance to sit down with Mark and find out about the creative process behind the music. Check out his new video and our exclusive interview below.

Listening to Don’t Start A Fire feels like you’re detailing a personal experience. Can you tell us about what inspired the song?

Don’t start a fire was inspired by a specific experience I had which I think many people have experienced and can relate to. The feeling of getting to know someone who isn’t fully invested, being ghosted, and simply just being a part of something that the other participant had no intention of following through with.

Can you take us through the concept and process of shooting the video?

I wanted to be in the space where I felt the emotions that led me to write the song and that space was my apartment! So the concept of the video is me working through the emotions and feelings of that moment while dancing and singing alone in my apartment like a madman.

How has your sound evolved since the last release? Because listening to Don’t Start A Fire, it’s minimalistic, driven by progressive drums, and beautifully layered vocals.

I’ve grown to be a more confident musician in the last few years, I’m at the stage in my artistry where I feel good about the music that I’m making and I feel confident in how I express myself as an artist and that wasn’t always the case. I spent most of my early days as a musician second-guessing my lyrics and over-analyzing my voice and style and now I don’t do that anymore.

Thematically, how would you describe the upcoming EP, Foreign?

Foreign is a record meant to portray my experience as Mark Clennon but specifically as an immigrant. As someone who’s had to mold to different spaces and places and find myself multiple times with each move. This is the first record I’ve released where I’m embracing all sides of that journey instead of trying to assimilate into one specific aspect of this journey.

You can stream Mark Clennon’s EP here