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Dec 13, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Devyn Glista

Earlier this year, Cincinnati-based songwriter Cory Pavlinac released his full-length debut record, No Man’s Land. After debuting in 2015 with his EP, Tree of Knowledge, Pavlinac’s new record completes his growth from insular DIY tape recordings into a thriving studio project, pulling from strains of indie rock, jangle pop, and folk. Today, ZOO is following his release with a new video for one of the album’s highlights, “Worry,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Worry” leans into those DIY recording days, finding Pavlinac draped in lo-fi haze and accompanied only by the solitary strums of his guitar and gentle pedal steel. That stark veneer lends the track a sense of effortless simplicity, almost like a glimpse into an unseen home video. Meanwhile, Pavlinac conjures similarly poignant lyricism, finding evocative beauty within sleepless anxious nights. He opens the song singing: “Staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night / I’ve got worry on my mind / Some people get up early, I only get up late / ‘Cause I got worry on my mind.” The accompanying video acts almost as an antidote to the titular worry, framing Pavlinac’s anxious wanderings against gorgeous natural imagery.

Pavlinac says of the track, “I wrote this song at 2 a.m., laying in bed one night with all these thoughts flying around my head, unable to sleep. The song took shape immediately when the first line popped into my head, and I snuck out of bed to go record it. When I went into the studio months later, Isaac had the idea of just doing it live with a guitar and a couple mics in the room and putting it to tape. I think it has a really special quality and is one of my favorites on the album.”

Check out the song and video below. No Man’s Land is out now via Good Eye Records.