Memories define who we are, both in positive and negative ways and for some of us it may even be a struggle to break free from them.

But for 33-year-old director and musician Rob Finlay, from Borehamwood, returning to the memories of his Catholic upbringing and the subsequent change in outlook during his university years were powerful motivators for his track and video, Call Back the Day.

The idea for the video was developed alongside his interns at his film company, Elstree Film Design Ltd, where they toyed with ideas before deciding on having a religious theme and shooting it in Cassiobury Park.

“I really like the juxtaposition between an urban and a rural environment in and around the park. The video has an urban start to it and then it jumps, in an obvious way, to an outside space.

“It reflects a homeless man’s journey and reflects his change in belief and motivations; and then when it all comes crashing down he’s thrust back into the real world.”

Rob also felt that the park's iconic cedar tree, which only narrowly escaped the axe last year, would be a prime location for a shot towards the end of the video that sees the homeless man, appearing almost Christ-like and kneeling in front of the tree.

“It’s a beautiful tree, and it’s not often you stumble across a tree straight from the Holy Land in Watford.

“That’s why it features so heavily towards the end of the video, because of that biblical connection.”

The song, as well as the video, also draws strongly from Rob’s Catholic childhood and his journey away from his faith.

“All the verses are about my Catholic upbringing. I was brought up Catholic and I did not question its nature of truth until I moved away to Bristol to study archaeology.

“There I was introduced to ideas like Darwinism and that really changed my perspective on things. The video is a type of reflection of that journey.

“That’s not to say that I think religion is bad, but there are many different ways to look at the world and that’s what I wanted to convey.”

So what does Rob want people to take away from his work?

“The hope of every artist is for it to have some sort of resonance within somebody, but it’s not the main driving force behind writing a song. You can’t write a song with an audience in mind, you need to write it, without sounding to cliché about it, from the heart.”

Details: robfinlay.co.uk