Watch Doctor Lincoln’s Retro Grain Video For ‘Don’t Let Go’

In 2016, when Kerala-based doctor turned musician Lincoln Joseph aka Doctor Lincoln released his six-track debut EP Wallflower, there was a song on the record titled “Don’t Let Go.” Joseph penned that song in 2012 after going through a breakup. He says, “The lyrics aren’t about the breakup though. It is about stepping up and asking for help in a situation where I was mentally depressed.” Now, “Don’t Let Go” gets a second life with Joseph releasing an updated version of the song, which is set to be on his upcoming 10-track album Will See You Now.

Talking about why he decided to rehash “Don’t Let Go,” Joseph says, “I wasn’t happy with the overall sonic quality and production. And since it’s a very personal song for me, I decided to revisit it on this album just the way I had imagined it. This time I was able to bring it home.”

The track opens with a crunchy guitar hook before venturing into pop-rock territory as Joseph sings poignantly about overcoming hardships. He self-produced the song, while musicians Stephen Mathison handled synthesizer and bass duties and Palee Francis (from Kochi folk/indie band When Chai Met Toast) helped arrange the drum parts. Joseph says, “I would do preliminary arrangements over Skype with Stephen and then hit the studio to complete the tracking process. We would then do post-production at Palee’s studio that involves finalizing all the stems prior to sending it over to our mix engineer.” Rex Vijayan mixed the song and Ben Feggans from Sydney’s Studio 301 mastered it.

There’s also a music video released to accompany the track, which according to Joseph is “the most exciting thing” he’s done so far. The clip—directed by filmmaker Steev Benjamin—sees Joseph and his musician friends performing the track in a warehouse while actress Deepika Singh portrays the role of a person going through what the lyrics describe. “I love retro culture and fantasize about living in the Eighties through the Nineties on a normal day. Steev did exactly that on the video treatment,” says Joseph. He adds, “Our entire set and art were DIY. We took furniture from my home to create a set at an old harbor warehouse called Uru located at the very historic Fort Kochi not very far from where I live.”

Joseph gives a nod to his previous profession as a doctor through the title of his forthcoming album, Will See You Now. The LP is set to include three more new versions of previously released songs as Joseph tells us that through the record, he will be sharing his story, experiences and struggle with Asperger’s Syndrome. With a few more singles lined up before the album drops in May, Joseph says, “I personally feel each song is sonically different from ‘Don’t Let Go.’ As I mentioned before, it’s going to have a lot of Eighties and Nineties nostalgia.” 

 Watch the video for “Don’t Let Go” below: