The best is certainly yet to come in Joel Barney's tender promo for Tom Walker. The black and white video for Walker's The Best Is Yet To Come is interspersed with real stories from some of his fans, shining the spotlight on their journeys and their connection to the track. Beautifully composed and emotionally affecting, the video is an important piece of work with an incredible message. "Tom posted a clip of this track on TikTok a few months back, with no intention of releasing it as a a single," Barney explains. "Instantly, fans connected with the song and began posting videos of themselves sharing their stories and how the song had resonated with them. We invited Tom's fans to come in and share these stories with us and how the song had connected with them and their experiences."

Directing duo Machine Operated deliver an intimate documentary-style music video for Loyle Carner's Georgetown - shot in the eponymous capital of Guyana.The pair travelled with Loyle to the country of his father, documenting his relationship with identity, community and belonging, with cinematographers Dan Landin - making a rare return to music videos - and Ola Pontakos.It starts with the words of Guyanese playwright/poet John Agard reciting his poem 'Half-Caste', and from that intriguing point, the film interweaves striking portraiture with understated performance vignettes, captured in a breathtakingly cinematic way, with gorgeous composition, colour palettes and textures. It's stunning work.

Jean-Vital Joliat has directed a moving film - part-documentary, part-music video - that tells the story of the Innu-Aimun, indigenous people from the Cote Nord part of Quebec, told largely through the testimony of an indominatable female elder.The first half of the film has her recalling forced assimilation into Western ways - and worse - as a child at a Catholic residential school in the village of Meliotenam in the 1940s. The second half focusses upon the music - the band Matiu performing Tipatshimushtunan - against footage of daily life in the village and surroundings, beautifully captured by Joliat, and DoP Graham Gs, and the efforts of local people to reclaim their own culture.But as Joliat makes clear in the text that punctuates the film, this is just one example of a much bigger, under-reported story in Canadian history. "'Tipatshimushtunan' means 'tell us' in Innu-Aimun," he explains. "Through this song, that speaks about the cultural genocide experienced by the native people, amongst other things, I wanted to create a hybrid documentary and music video project, where the word, testimony, and a part of history, would be at the very heart of the artistic process."I also wanted to bring a story to light that is neither well known in Canada, nor around the world, in order to raise awareness. My intention was to do something beautiful and raw, almost improvised, to capture the beauty of this native community in an honest way. Innu means 'human being' and this project is essentially based on this term."

Silence explores the complex nature of relationships, for Tora-i's Lounging.The intimate promo is captured in beautifully pared-back frames, examining the ebb and flow of romantic relationships through a series of heartfelt vignettes. Appearing in the background of the setups, Tora-i observes the characters whilst performing, acting as a neutral party and the visual anchor of the concept. Beautiful work.

Andy Little directs a docu-style promo for Midlake's Exile.Joining the group on their UK tour this year, Little captured the scenes on a mix of super 8mm and 16mm. Feeling obliged to join the band for a few whiskys, Andy accidentally (or drunkenly) loaded one of the the exposed rolls of 16mm back into the camera - but facing the wrong way. The film was double exposed and dragged through the camera at a unsual speed, creating a bizzare double exposure effect. Talk about happy accidents. The resulting promo is an intimate, dreamlike experience, with plenty of glorious live footage of the band.

Tia Salisbury directs a darkly comic promo for post-punk musician Billy Nomates, aka Tor Maries - featuring Spencer Jones, creator/star of off-the-wall TV comedy The Mind of Herbert Clumperdunk. In the video for Blue Bones, Jones plays Maries' super-needy slobbish partner, slurping noodles and invading her space. He's suffocating her both spiritually and physically, in a relationship heading towards its death throes.In the end, it looks like they find some level ground, before Maries hops out and starts life on a more hopeful timeline. This lo-fi effort is a great showcase for the artist and director, and a sign of great things to come for both.

Paul Ward directs a riveting film for surf brand Mami Wata. The video for Luck Is Alive tells the story of an African surfer who is a believer in Animism, a sensibility prevalent among surfers throughout Africa. Animism is based on the idea that everything is sentient: that inanimate objects, plants, animals or even entities such as the ocean have a spirit or a soul, often in the sense of having ‘personhood’.The cinematic film is a cerebral, often intense experience, and blends documentary and promo aesthetics. The concept is driven forward by a compelling voiceover and breathtaking sound design, which brings the enigmatic narrative to life. Demonstrating an animistic sensibility through the concept of luck, the line, ‘Luck is Alive’, encapsulates this way of relating to the world: a sense of the aliveness of chance, and by believing in luck and that luck is alive, luck can lead you to be lucky. It is through his belief in luck that our protagonists is lead to the water, and where main character Damme Samb finds ultimate freedom.

Audrey Lane directs a heartfelt promo for Wes Aldrich's Can't Kill Me Now. The video is about the true story of Coral Mizrachi overcoming cancer, and is an unflinching, raw insight into her journey. Opening with snapshots of old home videos, the concept leads into a montage of Mizrachi at home, in the hospital undergoing treatment and then in quiet moments where she is able to enjoy her hobbies. A title screen near the end explains that Mizrachi had to move home to Tel Aviv to undergo several rounds of chemotherapy, and whilst things were looking uncertain throughout, she beat the cancer in May of 2021. A beautiful, stirring and human real-life story, that perfectly encapsulates the title of the track.