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.