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'Belfast' (written and performed by Thomas Oliver) from the album, "Beneath the Weissenborn", out now.

Video by Danny Pemberton

"Belfast" was written by Thomas the day I left Wellington having spent the past five years living with four remarkable friends. Throughout university, flats would disintegrate into feuds about cleanliness and the price of bread but the five of us had stuck together through our ham and cheese toastie days as students to our ham, cheese and pesto sandwich days as young professionals. We'd changed flats several times but the line-up was the same, and the name of our first flat -- Belfast -- followed us whenever we moved.

And so from the deck of the ferry I waved goodbye to Belfast (at this point in time perched atop a bushy peninsular), heading south to live with my family for a couple of months before taking the overseas trip. When I arrived at dark, there was a message from Thomas with a draft version of a song he'd written that day. As soon as I heard it I understood exactly the atmosphere in that place I'd just left -- that lonely sadness you get when someone leaves your life, the empty spaces of their bare room, the blu-tack pressed into the walls, the dust on the skirting board.

Nearly half a year later, I checked into a hostel in Peru. There was another message from Thomas asking me if I would like to create a music video for Belfast. I had been riding a motorcycle for months -- a brilliant thing to do if you don't mind spending a lot of time in your own head. But I was starting to notice that where initially my thoughts were turned towards the next border crossing or challenge, the longer I spent on the road the more I found myself thinking about people -- people I was excited to meet in the future, people I'd met two days ago, and the friends I'd left in my home country.

"Belfast" is the soundtrack to my friends, and the accompanying video is a tribute to their absence.

-- Danny Pemberton

www.thomasoliver.co.nz

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