Have family out West? Show them Kinley's new video

​In her new video Golden Days, Kinley is calling on former Islanders to come home.  

P.E.I. singer-songwriter Kinley Dowling is fresh off winning two East Coast Music awards for Rising Star and Fans' Choice Video of the Year for Microphone, directed by Island filmmaker Jenna MacMillan, who also directed Golden Days and several other videos from Kinley's debut album Letters Never Sent.

"I wrote this song a few years ago after I watched Stompin' Tom's funeral on TV," Dowling told CBC's Angela Walker.

It's pretty beautiful and amazing here and if you can make it work, then it's a lovely lifestyle.— Kinley Dowling

"I remember there was a quote from him saying there's all these beautiful songs about different places in the world, but we should write about where we know and where we're from, and Canada's beautiful."

'A lovely lifestyle'

Dowling was inspired to write about her favourite place, the beautiful sandy beach at Lakeside, P.E.I. 

At the same time, she was thinking about friends who had moved to western Canada to find jobs, and wishing they could come home.

"It's pretty beautiful and amazing here and if you can make it work, then it's a lovely lifestyle," Dowling said. 

She was also thinking about friends who moved away and came out as gay or queer, and didn't feel as comfortable upon their return to P.E.I.

"Sometimes P.E.I. is a little behind the times, but I feel we're definitely catching up." Dowling said. "There's lots of great people doing a lot of work to make everyone feel comfortable to be who they are." 

Encouraging ex-pats

It wasn't possible to shoot the video at Lakeside, so it was shot a few kilometres away on the beach at Blooming Point last October. "Luckily it was really warm," Dowling said.  

"We knew we wanted it to be based on someone coming home, and a beach party," Dowling said. 

They approached the provincial government and "tweaked the story a little bit to work with them," Dowling said. 

"We partnered with them and they actually are going to use it as advertisements for P.E.I., which is cool. It's part of their new project to get ex-pats to come back home." 

'I kind of teared up'

Island actor Bryde MacLean stars in the video, which shows her agonizing over whether she should accept an invitation to a fun P.E.I. beach party.

She receives a video call from her family (her family in real life, too) encouraging her to come. She does, and has the time of her life, rekindling friendships and an old romance — there's even a moonlight swim.

When Dowling saw MacMillan's finished product, "I kind of teared up too," she said. "I was like oh my gosh, P.E.I. is beautiful — and I was there that day!" 

Dowling would be thrilled if the video inspires Islanders to move home, she said.

Here's a verse:

When the gritty sand makes you feel born again

All the bad things you lived through and the good things you didn't do

They get washed away when the sun hits your face 

When you're diving in the waves, yeah these are the golden days. 

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