Skylar Gudasz has a voice so hypnotic that it can woo a ship dangerously close to shore. Fortunately, Gudasz has a rescue team standing by. In the North Carolina singer-songwriter’s new video for “Lovestorypastlife,” she shines a light on a nearly forgotten part of eastern seaboard history, the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station in the Outer Banks.
Directed by Gudasz and filmed at the historic site, the video recreates the maneuvers of a drill team that would man the station 150 years ago, keeping eyes peeled for ships and sailors in distress. The vocalist thought it’d be the perfect setting for “Lovestorypastlife,” a highlight of her just-released album Country.
“The drill team pictured on the album runs the lifesaving drill that has been in practice at the station since its beginning. The ‘cannon’ you see was actually created with the intention of saving lives — it shoots a rope to the ship to be tied to the mast so a buoy can be pulleyed between the ship and the shore,” she says in a statement. “This ended up being the perfect visual representation of the album — the ever-changing border being navigated between land and sea, people and nature, and the wilderness at the heart of Country.”
Country is the follow-up to Gudasz’ breakthrough album, 2020’s Cinema, which included the track “Femme Fatale” — a sample of which was used by French Montana in the 2022 song “Blue Chills.” Gudasz sued Montana and producer Harry Fraud last year, claiming that “Blue Chills” incorporated an uncleared sample of her song. Montana and Fraud settled the lawsuit with Gudasz last month. Per court documents obtained by RS, the two parties filed a request on July 31, asking a judge to dismiss the case. Specific details of the settlement were not disclosed.
With the legal drama behind her, Gudasz is focused on touring Country across the U.S. She’ll celebrate the album’s release with a pair of home-state gigs this weekend: in Durham, North Carolina, on Friday, and Carolina Beach on Saturday.
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