A song can immediately grab hold of the listener when it becomes a creative vessel of the artist’s energy. If there’s a flurry of rhythms, a steady beat and some solid guitar chords, chances are the music is going to get noticed.

One track that deserves some attention is “Through To You” by Cranston musician Brian McKenzie, which came out on Aug. 2. There’s an abundance of harmony present with those kinds of rhythms I just mentioned and it also has a bit of a catchy vibe. On the same day of the song’s release, a music video for it directed by Cranston-based filmmaker Brett Davey came out, and it’s a genuinely local effort.

The music video includes shots of the Narragansett village of Galilee and the town of North Providence with a camping trailer playing a big part in the images. The song itself was conceived from a riff that McKenzie was messing around with on his guitar.

“‘Through to You’ first started coming to life from a guitar riff I was playing around with that had almost an ’80s new wave feel,” McKenzie says on the vision behind the song. “I wanted to keep that energy across the entire production. When my sister and I were kids, we grew up listening to a lot of Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and all those bands. I always loved the reverb-y guitar tones and I wanted to create that feel in a modern singer-songwriter way. I thought it really felt very much like summer and I pictured that type of vibe for a video from the get-go. Brett really brought that to life with some great shots.”

This wasn’t the first time both McKenzie and Davey worked together, with their first collaboration happening a few years ago. They both wanted to work together again and the release of the new single was the ideal reason to do so.

“In 2018, I worked with Brian when the video for his song ‘Higher Than This,’ filmed by Andy McCarthy, needed a couple extra shots,” Davey mentions about working with McKenzie. “We had a good time shooting those extra scenes and I was hoping we'd get a chance to work together again. Creating a video for ‘Through To You’ was a challenge because it has the sound of a great summer song but the lyrics are deeper. We decided that simpler was better for the video. Chris and Jennifer Daltry, who owned the store What Cheer Records & Vintage in Providence’s East Side, let us use an old trailer they had on their property in North Providence as the backdrop.”

“Brian wanted some of that summer feel to the song so we spent a morning at Salty Brine Beach in Narragansett and Galilee to capture images that evoked Rhode Island in August,” Davey adds. “Those shots only pictured people off in the distance or as silhouettes because we wanted to capture a mood of loneliness or isolation. I tell people to add this song to their playlist if they want to keep summer alive.”

Even though August is nearing its end for this year, it doesn’t mean that the summer season has to suffer the same fate. Actually, the last day of summer for 2021, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, is on Sept. 22, so we have a few weeks left.

While we have this limited amount of time, turn up Brian McKenzie’s new single “Through To You” and watch the music video for it via his Youtube channel. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the final days of warm weather before the leaves change to hues of red, brown and orange and the temperature becomes brisk. It’s also an upbeat song that you’ll want to listen to multiple times.