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Jul 29, 2021 By Caleb Campbell

New York-via-Boston troubadour Adam Silvestri returned last year with his third full-length album as Radiator King, Unborn Ghosts. The record sees Silvestri distilling his mix of punk, dusty Americana, and blues into his sharpest pastiche yet, pulling touchstones like Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, and Joe Strummer into a more cohesive whole. Now Silvestri is back sharing the video for one of the record’s highlights, “Haunts Me Now,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Haunts Me Now” finds Silvestri grappling with the ghosts of the past, haunted by faces and names of his youth. The spectral folk ballad breaks into a raw punk howl by the end, carried by Silvestri’s sandpaper vocals and powerhouse drumming from Brian Viglione of The Dresden Dolls and Violent Femmes. The accompanying video gives vision to these memories, tracking through carefree teenage escapades and an ensuing haunting tragedy.

Silvestri explains, “When I first wrote “Haunts Me Now” there were scenes I imagined in my mind— glimpses of the past, memories of youth. Memories live in our subconscious and every now and again, when triggered by our senses, they make their way to our conscious mind. In order to capture that idea, it seemed natural to tell the song’s story using camcorder footage filmed by a crew of reckless, wide-eyed teens.

This was the first video I’ve made where I’ve used actors other than myself or friends of mine. Kristiana Tattos, Killian McCole, and Vincent Radu were the kids in the video, and they did such an excellent job. Most of the camcorder footage was recorded in one day at various locations around Staten Island.

The video was produced & directed by Fuzz on the Lens. When I explained my ideas to Steve Della Salla and Mike Leavy, who run the company, they immediately understood what I was after and were able to get access to the boiler room of a now-defunct VA hospital for us to shoot in. Most of the shots of me were filmed here.”

Check out the song and video below. Unborn Ghosts is out now.