English Singer Marika Hackman Premieres “Drown” Video
The dark, striking concept was partly inspired by legendary video artist Bill Viola.
With lines like I'd choke on you if I could, Marika Hackman's "Drown" is a song about being a romantic masochist. "It deals with the idea of suffocating on the power of human emotion and finding it painful, yet strangely euphoric," Hackman told FADER over email. The official video for the the hushed, brooding folk song—directed by London filmmaking duo Brian + Karl—literally features Hackman singing in water, her head forced under by an anonymous human hand, her expression fluctuates between panic and an unnerving calmness. At one point, inky red blood starts pouring out of her mouth.
"I wanted to create a video that would indulge in the dark-but-beautiful intensity of the words," she said, noting the inspiration of famed video artist Bill Viola. "He contrasts human subjects with the black voids he places them in," Hackman said of Viola. "[It creates] an erie beauty and serenity which simultaneously belies the violence of what is actually happening." The song is the lead single from Hackman's full-length debut, We Slept At Last, which drops February 16th.
Photo credit: Pip
