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Apr 13, 2022 By Mark Redfern

Tess Parks is releasing a new album, And Those Who Were Seen Dancing, on May 20 via Fuzz Club. Now she has shared the album’s third single, “Do You Pray?,” via a video for it. Gsus López directed the video, which simply features dancer Mark Wagner spinning around to the song. Watch it below.

Parks had this to say about the song in a press release: “My friend Annie just asked me one day out of the blue, ‘Do you pray?’, and I thought, ‘Wow, yes I love that and yes I do, every day.’ The song is a mix of two traditionals: ‘My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean’ and ‘When the Saints Go Marching In.’ This is one of a few songs on the album where my dad can be heard playing my grand-fathers old piano.”

Of the video, Parks adds: “​​Mark Wagner is seen whirling like a dervish, a sacred dance derived from the ancient Sufi practice, ritual and meditation of the ‘Sema.’ The dance is trance and euphoria-inducing and offers a sense of connectedness and expansiveness among many other virtues. I have been a fan of Mark Wagner for years now. I can’t even remember how I came across him, but I would always watch his videos and be absolutely mesmerized.

“I messaged him late last year and asked him to dance in this video and I said he could choose wherever he wanted to in the whole world to film it. Our correspondence was no more than a few e-mails back and forth, not even a phone call. He sent me this video and I was actually speechless. Not only had I been unaware that he was based in London, but we had shot outtakes for the 2018 album cover with Anton [Newcombe] at the exact location that he had chosen. Mysticism at its finest!”

Parks previously shared the album’s first single, “Happy Birthday Forever,” via a video for the song (which was one of our Songs of the Week). Then the album’s second single, the wonderfully titled “Brexit at Tiffany’s,” also made our Songs of the Week list.

“In my mind, this album is like hopscotch,” Parks said of the album in a previous press release: “These songs were pieced together over time in London, Toronto and Los Angeles with friends and family between August 2019 and March 2021. So many other versions of these songs exist. The recording and final completion of this album took over two years and wow—the lesson I have learned the most is that words are spells. If I didn’t know it before, I know it now for sure. I only want to put good out into the universe.”

She added: “I really felt discouraged to complete this album. I stopped listening to music for honestly about a year altogether and turned to painting instead. I really had to convince myself again that it’s important to just share whatever good we can—having the faith in ourselves to know that our lights can shine on and on through other people and for other people. The thought of anyone not sharing their art or being shy of anything they create seems like a real tragedy to me. Even if it’s not perfect, you’re capturing a moment.”

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