The best music videos put us right there in the shot with whatever we’re looking at on-screen, which is precisely what Jim Waneka does with the visual component to his new single “I’m Coming Home.” Rather than going with the stripped-down look some of his rivals in the underground have been experimenting with in recent times, Waneka is putting us in the passenger seat for a venture into the country that feels homespun and romantic. There’s something very natural about his presence in this video and how it relates to the story he’s telling in the song, and for country fans like me, his energy is what makes this genre so exciting, to begin with.
Waneka’s understated vocal inarguably makes the words that he sings a little more intimate and personal than they would have with something just a bit stronger, and I like that he isn’t afraid to use his tone as a means of cultivating a mood in this track.