Tomás Doncker’s newest single and video, ‘Don’t Let Go’, has lived multiple lives. Perhaps the most haunting and soul-searing song in his extensive catalog, it delves into homelessness and the uncertainty of everyday existence that comes with it — but also offers a hopeful message to never give up. Originally a solo acoustic track on his 2015 album The Mess We Made, the song was reimagined in 2021 by UK musicians/producers James Sedge and Ralph Cardall (AKA, Deep State), who took just the vocals and rebuilt the song from the ground up. “We went back and forth and created this sort of ghostly reggae mood,” Sedge comments. Doncker used their take as an inspirational building block for the “UK version” of the song (one of the two editions of it that appear on his new album, Born To Be), creating a vibe that starts off Eno and builds to a dub inspired crescendo. For the song’s second iteration on the album he brings it back to it’s acoustic roots, but adds in subtle synth swells and an almost George Martin/Burt Bacharach-esque string arrangement to achieve an effect that melds ’70s pop sensibilities with a modern singer/songwriter ethos.
For the video, Doncker enlisted longtime True Groove videographer William Murray, who delivers nothing short of an emotional gut-punch. “Tomás gave me the whole background on the song, and I knew right away I had to approach it as a film as opposed to a ‘traditional’ music video,” he notes. “It had to be a very direct narrative portraying the way life might be when you’re faced with homelessness. It’s a very cautious and empty existence, you don’t know what’s going to happen next; you don’t know what what the next moment will bring. You might be working a bit but its not enough to keep a home. I felt very strongly about it. I wanted to make sure I could convey the melancholy of the day-in day-out life that comes with that circumstance, but every shot still needs to further the story that takes you to an emotional conclusion. It’s the old idea of film versus music video, something that gets around and above the cliches and sticks to your ribs better.”
