Durand Jones Opens Up About Black Queer Love on Reflective New Single ‘That Feeling’
Written by djfrosty on March 21, 2023
Musician Durand Jones is sharing an intimate look at his personal life with a new video for his debut solo single “That Feeling.” The track – off his upcoming LP Wait Til I Get Over – is an ode to Black queer love from the lead singer of Durand Jones and the Indications and marks the first time the singer has openly discussed his sexuality.
“That Feeling” reflects on Jones’ first queer relationship and the mixed feelings he felt about “taboo” love. “I dedicate this one to a cajun dude out near Lafayette, Louisiana. Back in the day, our bond and love for another was so close and intense, that it overwhelmed me,” Jones said in a statement released with the song. “I began to be scared of it and ashamed. I found myself in a flurry trying to find the feelings when I said I would be so many things for him.”
Jones continues, “It’s the first breakup song I’ve ever written, and it’s the first and only love song I’ve written directly to another man. I wanted this song to be a big climatic build of emotions – to capture our frustration, sadness, and nostalgia that comes with the end to any intimate relationship.”
The single is released alongside a music video directed by Will Niava and McCray Sutherlin. Backdropped by scenes of gulf Louisiana wetland, the video follows Jones and a younger version of himself falling in love for the first time. When an older Jones returns to his hometown, he and his former love exchange fleeting glances at a Southern dinner table and tender gazes in a marshy field, capturing the aching yearn of long-lost love.
Jones’ debut solo album Wait Til I Get Over (due out on May 5 via Dead Oceans) serves as a reckoning of Jones’ relationship with his hometown of Hillaryville, La., a town first established as a form of reparations to previously enslaved Black Americans. Check out the official video for Jones’ “That Feeling” above.