See Jesse Malin’s Performance Art Video for ‘When You’re Young’

Jesse Malin mixes performance video with performance art in the music video for his song “When You’re Young.” “Wake up, don’t waste your life on things that don’t get better,” he sings, advocating for self-care and knowing when to cut your losses and move on, while his band goofs around him on a banquette. The clip was directed by Dave Stekert.

The piano-based mid-tempo track appears on the New York songwriter’s new album Sunset Kids, out today. Produced by Lucinda Williams and Tom Overby, Sunset Kids is Malin’s first studio album in four years and follows up 2015’s Outsiders. After meeting Williams at a Charlie Watts jazz performance in New York, the seemingly odd couple — she was raised in Arkansas; he in Queens — struck up a friendship that led, years later, to the creation of Sunset Kids. “It was an admiration, a friendship, and we spent time around each other,” Malin says of his relationship with Williams.

Williams duets with Malin on the track “Dead On,” and also lends background vocals to “Shane,” a tribute to Pogues singer Shane MacGowan, and “Room 13,” about the refuge one finds in random hotel rooms. Producing with her husband Overby, Williams helped Malin refine his lyrics, while Overby focused on the musical arrangements.

Malin will support Sunset Kids with a new tour and also make two appearances at AmericanaFest in Nashville in September.