“Nothing says goodbye like a steam train,” says Houmam Abdallah, the British director behind “Only Now,��� the latest video for soulful Canadian singer-songwriter JBM. Capturing an old Jacobite steam train cannoning through the remote Scottish Highlands, Abdallah’s film merges real and surreal visuals in the same vein as his striking JMW Turner-inspired directorial debut for Beirut’s “The Rip Tide” in 2012. “Playing with paradigms to evoke a heightened sense of reality is where I find my kicks,” says the emerging filmmaker signed to production company Riff Raff Films. His background in post-production has seen him collaborate with Parisian director collective Megaforce, coloring pop promos for Dizzee Rascal, Paloma Faith and London Grammar. “We were overwhelmed by the eeriness of the landscape,” says JBM—AKA Jesse B. Marchant—of filming with Abdallah. “I think the video is beautiful. It haunts and comforts me.” Below, the filmmaker lets us in on his creative collaboration.

JBM’s Stray Ashes is an album that I highly recommend for anyone working in visual form. When discussing ideas for this video it was so easy to set the mood and structure straight away.

The melted house came from questioning what would happen ‘hypothetically speaking’ if elements in a digital picture overheated. We made a 3D model of the existing house filmed on location, 3D printed a replica and melted it using a paint-stripping gun. This in return gave the feeling of creative freedom that you get from working with paintings or illustration.

There are many challenges when chasing after a train, but that’s music-video logistics that no one wants to be bored with. However, trying and failing to convince the police not to give the Assistant Director three points on his licence was probably the hardest.

Stray Ashes is out now on Fargo.