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Lankum 'Ghost Town' by Leonn Ward

Rob Ulitski - 8th Jan 2026

Almost 45 years after the release of the original, The Specials' Ghost Town has been covered by Irish alternative folk outfit Lankum in spine-tingling fashion. Leonn Ward's hugely atmospheric video pays homage to the mood of this new version while also paying homage to the classic original video

Just as in the 1981 video for The Specials, this visual for Ghost Town finds the band performing in a car, eyes to camera as the environment shifts around them - in this case, it's rural Ireland. 

Shot by Robbie Ryan, with breathtaking landscape shots and powerful cutaways, it's a disarming visual that hits you right in the core. 

“The first time I heard the track it floored me - pure emotion and strength," Ward explains. "The fractured world we live in today is in plain sight.

"There’s a weight and uncertainty more than ever, in my lifetime anyway. So it was important to both myself and Lankum to create a piece of work that felt honest; one that didn’t shy away from vulnerability yet carried lightness and perseverance all at once without overpowering it.

"It’s not about despair, it’s about resilience. The track holds immense power and I wanted to echo that, creating something with a real sense of endurance and resistance, a reflection of how people try to hold on to meaning in a collapsing world.

"I centred the band in the car as a nod to the iconic original video. And there was something powerful about these two scenes together; the strength from the band performing in the car merged with the man’s solitary journey, they begin to speak to one another. And though they never meet, there’s a sense that they’re sending each other something; strength, endurance, hope.”

Rob Ulitski - 8th Jan 2026

Tags

  • Director's notes
  • Pick of the Day
  • Folk
  • Alternative
  • Performance
  • Surreal
  • Car
  • Solitary
  • Disarming
  • Ritualistic

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Leonn Ward
Producer
Pauline Kausch
Production Company
Executive Producer
Theo Hue Williams
Executive Producer
Liam Harkin

Camera

Director of Photography
Robbie Ryan
Focus Puller
Jp Quill

Lighting/Grip

Gaffer
Padraig Conaty
Key Grip
Shotmaker
Key Grip
Stefan
Key Grip
Gary Greenberg

Wardrobe

Stylist
Sarah Flanagan

Casting

Casting director
Not Another Agency

Editorial

Editor
Toby Heard
Editing company
Pundersons Gardens

Grading

Colourist
Dante Pasquinelli
Colour grade company
Ethos Studio

VFX

VFX
Frame23

Commission

Label
Rough Trade Records

Rob Ulitski - 8th Jan 2026

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