DEVILS

“Antarctica and Sunday Driver are closely connected for me because I came up with the idea of forming the band when I was on a scientific expedition there way back in 1999/2000 (some footage from then is included in the video). 

I totally fell in love with Antarctica back in 1999 - it hooked me and never let go - but at the same time, the endless silence and emptiness made me want to surround myself with music when I got home!  So I did! And the band that came out of those musings is still together. 

The song 'Devils' and the video sum up the journey we've made which (for me) started in the solitude of a tent on an ice sheet. The vastness of the landscapes in the video reflects the space in the song. 'Devils' lets the notes breathe. I love how each of the awesome musicians in Sunday Driver gives the others space to carry the melody. 

Bringing Antarctic imagery into the video makes total sense to me even though when we first wrote the song it had nothing to do with ice. It was about nostalgia and loneliness. I wrote the melody and lyrics when I was on the verge of motherhood and sensed the gears of my life shifting, a change of state, bringing feelings of sorrow and fear as well as joy. 

Now gears are shifting again, but this time on a planetary scale. Since that footage was taken, the Antarctica that I fell in love with 25 years ago, has changed dramatically. Since I was out there almost three trillion tonnes of ice has been lost into the sea, pushing sea levels up all over the world. Scientific papers talk about heat-waves, rainfall and extreme weather now - phrases you'd barely hear back in 1999. 

These changes affect me (and so many others) at a deeply personal level, a sense of loss, almost bereavement, which as a scientist feels unprofessional, almost embarrassing, to talk about. But the video expresses that sorrow for me. “

Chandy - Sunday Driver